ESSAYS 



ON 



THE NATURE AND USES OF THE VARIOUS 

EVIDENCES 



OF 



REVEALED RElXGXON, 



BY GULIAN C. VERPLANCK, ESQ, 



" Quis tandem me reprehendat, si quantum alii tempestivis convjviis, 
quantum aleae, quantum pilse ; tantmn niihi egomet ad hsec studia recolen* 
dasumpsero." Cic, 



NEW-YORK: 
CHARLES WILEY, N°- 3 WALL-STREBT, 

J. W. PALMER & CO. PRINTERS. 
1824. 



\[5 b 



Southern District of New- York, ss. 

(L. S.) BE IT REMEMBERED, thai on the tenth day of August, in the 
forty -ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
Gulian C. Verplanck, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the 
title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words follow- 
ing, to wit : 

" Essays on the Nature and Uses of the Various Evidences of Revealed 
Religion. By Gulian C. Verplanck, Esq. 1 Quis tandem me reprehendat ? 
si quantum alii tempestivis conviviis, quantum aleae, quantum pilae ; tantum 
mini egomet ad hsec studia recolenda rumpsero.' Cic." 

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled " An 
Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps ? 
Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during 
the time therein mentioned ;" and also to an act entitled, " An Act, sup- 
plementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the encouragement of Learning, 
by securing copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and pro- 
prietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending 
the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching histo- 
rical and other prints. 

JAMES DILL, 
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York v 



TO. 

WASHINGTON ALLSTON 

AS A SLIGHT MARK OF RESPECT, 
FOR HIS 

TALENTS, WORKS, AND CHARACTER, 
THESE ESSAYS 

ARE INSCRIBED 
BY 



THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



It is not the design of this volume to pre- 
sent a regular and formal exposition of the 
Evidences of Christianity. 

This has already been done so often and 
so ably in our language, and in so many 
forms, from the learned collections of Dr. 
Lardner, and the original and profound ar- 
guments of Clarke and Butler, to the popu- 
lar and perspicuous statements of Addi- 
son, Paley, Beattie, and Chalmers, that an 
attempt to go over the same ground in de- 
tail, seems almost presumptuous and not 
very useful. But, in examining these and 
similar works, I have frequently been struck 
with what, amidst much excellence, ap- 
peared to me to be serious imperfec- 
tions. Some of those who have discussed 
the historical and critical testimony in the 
most admirable and ingenious manner, 
wholly neglect or avoid the internal 
evidence arising from the character of 
the doctrines taught, and from their pro- 
bable or their observed effects ; whilst 



VI 



others, with Dr. Chalmers, decidedly deny 
the power of the human intellect, to weigh 
the force of any such argument. To my 
mind, this evidence is, of all other, the 
most efficacious, and the most universal in 
its application. 

The influence of our sentiments and 
affections over our intellectual decisions 
is confessedly very strong, on all sub- 
jects of moral inquiry ; of necessity it 
must have gre^t sway in the considera- 
tion of the most momentous and deep- 
ly interesting of all inquiries, that concern- 
ing the truth of our Religion. Though 
this influence is never denied by any sound 
reasoner, and is constantly seen to furnish 
the most effectual instrument of religious 
eloquence in the inculcation of Christian 
truth, yet, those who write professedly on 
the subject, are generally inclined to re- 
gard it as being wholly distinct and apart 
from the exercise of the rational faculties, 
and therefore incapable of affording any- 
test of the truth or falsehood of opinions. 

But, besides the close and intimate con- 
nexion which exists between the purely ra- 
tional, and the moral and sentimental parts 
of our nature, and the constant and forcible 
action and re-action which they exert upon 
each other ; the adaptation of any sys- 
tem of moral precept or instruction to our 
better sentiments and feelings, and to the 



Vll 



actual condition of man, may be also con- 
sidered intellectually, and thus furnish no 
feeble proof of its divine origin. 

Those authors who have most faithfully 
and judiciously collected and stated the 
critical and historical learning which cor- 
roborates the relations, and verifies the 
authenticity of the books of scripture, 
or most ably expounded the speculative 
and metaphysical vindications of its doc- 
trine, are often too apt to consider them 
as mere questions for the exertion of 
learned acuteness. I have thought that 
these arguments might be made more 
useful by showing their connexion with 
the common principles upon which most 
men reason and judge, in the ordinary af- 
fairs of life. 

The several grounds on which their reli- 
gion is rationally received by the great bo- 
dy of intelligent Christians also appeared 
to reflect back much light upon the na- 
ture, character and uses of those eviden- 
ces themselves, which in various manners 
have thus made their way to the under- 
standings or the hearts of so many thinking 
beings. 

Such are the leading views, of which it 
is the object of this volume to present a 
brief and perspicuous, though I am fully 
conscious it must be a most imperfect, 
statement. 



viii 

It has been endeavoured throughout, 
to avoid the mixing pny consideration 
of those debated questions, which divide 
Christians, with these general and preli- 
minary arguments, except so far as unne- 
cessary concession or silence seemed di- 
rectly to involve the positive abandonment 
of essential truth. 

The reader will very soon perceive that 
no attempt has been made in these pages 
to comply with that canon of taste or crit- 
icism, founded alike on good sense and in 
high authority, which advises that every 
book should be as complete as possible 
within itself. On the contrary, I have 
presumed the reader to have some ge- 
neral acquaintance with the subject, and 
considering most of the particular facts as 
already in evidence before him, have main- 
ly confined myself to the principles which 
they involve, and the inferences justly to 
be drawn from them. 

If, however, these Essays should fall into 
the hands of any one who has not this pre- 
vious knowledge, and whose attention has 
never been turned to this inquiry, should 
they have the effect of exciting him to far- 
ther and honest examination, they will not 
have been written in vain. 



CONTENTS. 



ESSAY t 

The several Heads of the Evidences of Revealed Reli gioii \ 
their various Characters ; and the Argument resulting from 
their concurrent Testimony, Page 1 

ESSAY II. 

Of the Power of Human Reason to judge of the Internal Evi- 
dence of Truth in the Doctrines and Precepts of^Religion, 35 

ESSAY III. 

The probable Characteristics of Truth in the Doctrines, Pre- 
ceptSj and Moral Influence of any Religion, 79 

ESSAY IV. 

The Intention and Uses of the different Heads of Evidence for 
the Truth of Christianity, 123 

ESSAY V. 

The Critical Internal Evidence, 170 
ESSAY VI. 

The Internal Evidence arising from Congruity of Narrative and 
Character ; from Style and Manner. Remarks upon the con- 
nexion of the partial Obscurities of Scripture with its proba- 
ble Uses and Intention, 217 



APPENDIX, 



253 



ESSAY I. 



The several Heads of the Evidences of revealed Reli- 
gion ; their various Characters ; and the Argument re- 
sulting from their concurrent Testimony. 

In studying the evidences of the truth of re- 
vealed religion, whether they are examined solely 
for our own satisfaction, or to enable us to give 
light to others, it is very useful to bear con- 
stantly in mind, that every particular argument 
and branch of this evidence, however clear and 
convincing it may be in itself, still belongs to a 
vast system of truths, the several parts of which 
are wonderfully fitted, in different ways, to the 
various understandings, characters, and situa- 
tions of those to whom this universal dispensa- 
tion is offered. Thus is held out to every in- 
quirer — as well to the scholar who can make the 
whole of human learning tributary to his investiga- 
tions, as to the unlettered seeker after truth, who 
draws all his knowledge from his own heart and 
the sense of his own wants — some argument, 
which, if rightly received, may be sufficient to 
satisfy his reason, to awaken his conscience, or to 

1 



2 



engage his affections; while the whole of this 
proof taken together forms a vast and grand 
chain of moral demonstration, running through 
every age of the world, embracing at once ail 
that we know of our race, its history, and desti- 
nies ; and all that we know concerning ourselves, 
our own nature, our duties, our weakness, and 
our dangers. 

Almost all of man's science and the whole of 
his history, including alike the annals of princes 
and nations, and the more secret records of each 
one's memory of his past life, thus becomes, to a 
meditative and reflecting mind, in some way or 
other, connected with the history and doctrines 
of Christianity, and may be made to bear attesta- 
tion to their truth. 

Hence the evidence of revelation is, throughout, 
not only in its general heads, but in every branch 
of it, (to use the happy and expressive phrase of 
Dr. Paley,) strictly 'cumulative;'* each part 
serving not merely to confirm the other evidence 
of the same nature, but also, by the aggregation 
of innumerable probabilities, to strengthen the 
whole an hundred fold, until every chance of 
error or fraud is gradually, and at length com- 
pletely, excluded ; " and thus," says Jeremy Tay- 



* This useful and expressive word is, I believe, original with Paley ; at 
least, in the general and popular sense in which he applies it. It is borrowed 
from the civil lawj where it has an analogous technical signification,. 



3 



lor, " the heaping together heads of probabilities 
" is or may be the cause of an infinite persuasion." 
" Probable arguments," continues that eloquent 
divine, with his accustomed lavish exuberance of 
beautiful illustration and brilliant imagery ; 
" probable arguments are like little stars, every 
" one of which may be useless to our conduct and 
" enlightening, but when they are tyed together 
" by order and vicinity, by the finger of God and 
" the hand of an angel, they make a constellation, 
"and are not only powerful in their influence, 
" but like a bright angel to guide and enlighten 
"our way. And although the light is not so 
" great as the light of the sun or moon, yet mari- 
" ners sail by their conduct, and though with tre- 
pidation and some danger, yet very regularly 
" they enter into the haven. This heap of proba- 
" ble inducements is not of power as a mathe- 
" matical demonstration, which is in discourse as 
" a sun is in the heaven, but it makes a milky and 
" a white path, visible enough to walk securely."* 
It is this " tying together by order and vicini- 
ty," this luminous and distinct arrangement of the 
various materials of a most copious and diversified 
subject of inquiry, which gives its peculiar value 
to Paley's deservedly popular treatise on the Evi- 
dences of Christianity, and especially to the ad- 



* Taylor's Dv.ctor Dubttaniitim, 



4 



mirable outline and compression of the historical 
testimony to the leading facts of the history of 
redemption, and the early propagation of its doc- 
trine, and to the authenticity of the books of the 
New Testament contained in the first part of his 
work. The reader is there enabled to take in, at 
one view, the substance of the multifarious and 
complicated testimony of a long chain of Christian 
Fathers, acknowledging and constantly quoting 
our present scriptures ; of Jewish and heathen 
writers ; of versions, commentaries, harmonies, 
rites, ceremonies, and controversies ; of attacks 
and concessions of ancient adversaries ; of agree- 
ments of early sects who differed on all other 
points ; of probabilities arising from the state of 
opinion in the Roman world ; from the condition 
of society in that age, and from the universal and 
unchangeable motives of human action in all 
times : forming together an immense mass of 
external evidence to which all that could be col - 
lected in support of the best attested and most 
undoubted facts of ancient history, or in proof of 
the genuineness of the most unquestioned and ad- 
mired remains of ancient genius, can bear no sort 
of comparison. 

The materials of this argument are to be found 
more at large in other authors, and especially in 
the works of Dr. Lardner, who has collected and 
arranged the numerous authorities bearing upon 



5 



this subject with an accuracy of research, and a 
patient diligence, which have been well character- 
ized in the epithet applied to him, I think by Gib- 
bon, of the " laborious Larclner," and who is 
moreover entitled to the higher praise of never 
colouring or exaggerating the force of any testi- 
mony which he adduces, and whose fidelity in ci- 
tation has never been impeached. But here his 
merit ends, and the materials which he so indus- 
triously and faithfully collected have derived a 
tenfold value and usefulness in the hands of Paley, 
from their arrangement and application, from that 
condensation of the whole immense mass of learn- 
ing and authority, which reduces it as it were into 
a portable form, and fits it for the grasp of an or- 
dinary mind ; and, above all, from the practical, 
business-like good sense with which the argu- 
ment is managed, the inferences clearly and can- 
didly drawn, and the whole brought to concur in 
one irresistible conclusion. 

Leslie's " Short Method with the Deists,"* in 
which the historical, the ritual, and other exter- 
nal evidences of revelation are summed up in 
four short rules, pointing out as many criteria of 
the certainty of any historical fact, the co-exist- 
ence of all of which renders its truth demonstra- 
ble, is another work which bears the stamp of 



* See note A at the conclusion, 



the same peculiar talent, is marked by the same 
clearness of understanding, and the same power 
of lucid arrangement and vigorous generalization. 
" Leslie," said Dr. Johnson, (making an exception 
in his case from his sweeping censure of the 
English non-jurors as wholly deficient in logical 
talent,) " was a reasoner indeed, and a reasoner 
not to be reasoned against." He wasted much 
of his talent in controversies of a very narrow 
and wholly transient interest, and without any 
exemption from that extravagance and intole- 
rance, which, in the strife of civil and religious 
faction, so often degrade the loftiest, and blind 
the acutest minds ; but this little tract is an ad- 
mirable and lasting specimen of the manner in 
which he could seize the prominent points of an 
extensive and complicated inquiry, and place 
them before his readers in one distinct and vivid 
light. In fact, almost all of reasoning or infer- 
ence, that is to be found in the numerous authors 
who have written upon the historical evidences 
of Christianity, though they may have taken 
widely different courses to arrive at their con- 
clusions, may be disposed of under the four 
heads of Leslie's method. 

There is scarce an authority, or an argument, 
which has ever been adduced in corroboration of 
those leading facts asserted in our Scriptures, 
which, if established, involve the reception of 



7 



their doctrines, and the authority of the books as- 
serting them, which does not tend to confirm one 
or other of his great points: — 1st. That these 
facts were sensible, i. e. such as men's eyes, ears, 
and outward senses could judge of. 2d. That 
they were notorious — taking place publicly, in 
the presence of many and competent witnesses. 
3d. That there are now existing memorials of 
the facts, such as public and significant actions, 
customs, rites, established societies of men, obser- 
vations of days, public readings of the books in 
which they are related, all expressly commemo- 
rating these events. 4th. That such memorials 
commenced at the time assumed as that of the 
occurrence of the facts, or the publication of the 
books ; there being not only direct proof of 
that period of commencement, but also no other 
period being at all probable from argument or 
conjecture, and still less from positive history. 

It is evident, that no stronger proof can be 
given of any fact not within the immediate me- 
mory of the present, or at least of the last prece- 
ding generation, than may be afforded by the 
concurrence of all these circumstances ; and in 
running over in my own mind the most noted 
events and institutions of antiquity, I can find 
none, with the single and very striking exception 
of the history of the Roman law, and the authen- 
ticity of its code, digest, and institutes, which, 



8 



tried by these rules, is supported by any thing 
like the same strength of testimony as the history 
of the miracles and death of Jesus Christ, of the 
miraculous propagation of his religion, and the 
universal reception by his followers of the books 
which we now hold as sacred. 

A scholar, possessing the learning, ingenuity, 
and paradoxical spirit of Bentley, Warburton, or 
Hardouin, might doubtless raise many objections 
against the authenticity of Caesar's Commentaries, 
or Xenophon's Retreat of the Tea Thousand, and 
might allege many arguments to refute the nar- 
rative of Caesar's wars in Gaul, or Cyrus' attempt 
to gain the throne of Persia ; or against any other 
books, and almost any other facts of ancient his- 
tory. Such objections or arguments could never 
produce any, even the slightest degree of con- 
viction, and yet it must be often very difficult to 
refute them conclusively. 

But neither Grecian and Roman antiquity, nor 
that of the lower empire, has transmitted to us 
any writings except the commonly received 
books of the New Testament, and those of 
the civil law, which are evidenced by numerous 
other works, comprising a vast body of wholly pe- 
culiar learning, too voluminous, complicated and 
characteristic, to have possibly been framed for 
the purpose of imposition, which are altogether 
founded upon their authority, and whether agree- 



9 



ing or disagreeing in their opinions respecting 
them, always confirming their authority ; by an ex- 
ceedingly various and extensive indirect, or allu- 
sive corroboration from cotemporaneous history 
and literature ; by an order of men devoted to 
their study ; by a deep and intimate connection 
with the opinions, interests, habits, and lan- 
guage of whole nations ; by constantly recurring 
forms, customs, ceremonies, and usages, and by 
speeches, writings, and controversies regarding 
them, amongst different nations, sects, and class- 
es of society, and throughout whole countries. 

If some such learned and bold a freethinker 
in legal antiquities as the Jesuit Hardouin was in 
classical literature, had started doubts against the 
history and authenticity of the civil code, or had 
asserted that it was an arbitrary innovation of 
Justinian, or some later Greek Emperor, and 
therefore in no degree entitled to that authority 
and antiquity which it claims as comprehending 
and being founded upon the venerable laws of 
the Roman republic, and the decisions of wise 
and learned men under the Roman empire for 
centuries ; the evidence which a civilian or anti- 
quarian would appeal to against such objections; 
if, indeed, any scholar or learned lawyer could 
esteem such objections worth the answer — would 
be throughout analogous to that testimony which 
such writers as Lardner have collected in support 

2 



10 



of the facts and books of the Christian revela- 
tion ; although it is, I think, certain that it would 
be far less strong and extensive.* 

The effect of such outlines as these, necessarily 
is to give very great additional strength and 
clearness to the whole argument, by bringing its 
numerous points into a connected view, and 
showing their mutual relation, and the support 
they lend each other ; at the same time that they 
afford assistance to the memory, and furnish the 
means of a ready application of our knowledge 
by a compendious and philosophical arrange- 
ment. 

The prophetic testimony to the coming and 
character of our Saviour, the nature of his reli- 
gion, his rejection and sufferings, and the influ- 
ence and history of his dispensation, is in this 
respect of a precisely similar nature, and does not 
consist merely (as Paley in his, as usual, sensible 
but yet most imperfect statement of this argu- 
ment, has, in common with many other respecta- 
ble writers, been content to state) in two or three, 
or even in twenty remarkable and distinct predic- 
tions ; but it comprehends a great and long sus- 



* Such a comparison might be made without the labour of much re- 
search. The materials are to be found ready collected in Heinecius' His- 
tory of the Roman Law, and the other legal writings of that great civilian 
and antiquarian, who has been deservedly pronounced to be the very best 
writer of elementary books upon any subject. 



11 



tained system of divine interposition and inspira- 
tion from t-he beginning of the world, stretching 
through all ages, and still rolling onward to its 
completion. 

It is contained, 1st. In the direct, repeated, 
and minute predictions of a long line of writers 
and teachers, the oracles and classics of the Jew- 
ish people, the genuineness of whose works is 
proved by a singularly powerful complication of 
internal and external evidence ; and whose more 
express predictions are so numerous and circum- 
stantial as to exclude all possibility of a fortui- 
tous accomplishment. 

Rousseau, in the eloquent and paradoxical 
confession of faith which he puts in the mouth of 
his Savoyard Vicar in Emilius, has said that no 
fulfilment of prophecy could be of any weight 
with him to prove a divine interposition, unless it 
could be demonstrated that the agreement be- 
tween the prophecy and the event could not 
possibly have been fortuitous. This proof is 
more than any fair objector has a right to claim, 
since it is moral probability and not strict demon- 
stration which we must act upon in the most 
momentous concerns of life, and as reasonable 
men we should rest on the same evidences in 
matters of faith. In both the truly wise man 
will be governed by common sense, applied to 
the investigation of rational probability 



12 



In this case, however, we may accept the chal- 
lenge of the sceptic. Where the points of ful- 
filment of prediction are numerous, it may be lit- 
erally " demonstrated" that the probability of 
such accomplishment having accrued fortuitously 
is the most remote possible. 

This argument is put in a practical and stri- 
king point of view by Dr. Gregory, of the Military 
Academy at Woolwich, well known for many re- 
spectable and useful works, especially on mathe- 
matics and scientific mechanics. 

" Suppose," says he, " that instead of the spirit 
of prophecy breathing more or less in every book 
of scripture, predicting events relative to a great 
variety of general topics, and delivering besides 
almost innumerable characteristics of the Mes- 
siah, all meeting in the person of Jesus ; there 
had been only ten men in ancient times who 
pretended to be prophets, each of whom exhibit- 
ed only Jive independent criteria as to place, go- 
vernment, concomitant events, doctrine taught, 
effects of doctrine, character, sufferings, or death : 
the meeting of all which in one person should 
prove the reality of their calling as prophets, and 
of his mission in the character they have assign- 
ed him. Suppose, moreover, that all events were 
left to chance merely, and we were to compute, 
from the principles employed by mathematicians 
in the investigations of such subjects, the proba- 



13 



bility of these fifty independent circumstances 
happening at all. Assume that there is, accord- 
ing to the technical phrase, an equal chance for 
the happening or the failure of any one of these 
specified particulars ; then the probability against 
the occurrence of all the particulars in any way 
is that of the 50th power of 2 to unity ; that is, 
the probability is greater than eleven hundred and 
twenty-jive millions of millions to one that all 
these circumstances do not turn up even at dis- 
tinct periods. This computation, however, is in- 
dependent of the consideration of time. Let it 
be recollected farther, that if any one of the spe- 
cified circumstances happen, it may be the day 
after the delivery of the prophecy, or at any pe- 
riod from that time to the end of the world ; this 
will so indefinitely augment the probability 
against the cotemporaneous occurrence of merely 
these fifty circumstances, that it surpasses the 
power of numbers to express correctly the im- 
mense improbability of its taking place." * 

It is hardly necessary to draw the inference, 
which Dr. Gregory goes on to establish, that all 
probability, and even possibility, of accidental ful- 
filment, as well as of fraud, must be excluded. 
The sole reasonable solution of the question is, 
that these predictions and their fulfilments can 



* " Letters on the Christian Religion," by Olintbus Gregory, L. L. D. 



14 



only be ascribed to the intention of a being, whose 
knowledge could foresee future events, uncon- 
nected with each other, depending on various 
contingencies, and the will and acts of free agents ; 
or whose power is so omnipotent as to bend to the 
accomplishment of his own purpose the pas- 
sions of multitudes, the ambition of princes, the 
studies of the wise, the craft of the wicked, the 
wars, the revolutions, and the varied destinies of 
nations. 

But to this body of evidence we can add far- 
ther ;— 

2dly. That resulting from the relation which 
the history of the civilized world bears to the 
prophetic annunciations of its Teacher, Re- 
deemer, and Sovereign — and the connection 
which the fortunes and revolutions of states and 
empires have had with the moral government of 
him whose "way is in the whirlwind and the 
storm," and who " driveth asunder the nations." 

Predictions of events now long past, the re- 
cords and monuments of which alone remain, 
forming the mighty landmarks of history, are 
every where most closely interwoven with the 
prophetic declaration, of His will, the history of 
His revelation, and the destinies of those whom 
he had chosen as his people. 

Thus, Egypt and Babylon, Tyre and Jerusa- 
lem, are compelled to rise up from their ruins to 



15 

give testimony to that truth, which, in the day of 
their prosperity, they had rejected. 

3dly. In a mysterious and complicated form of 
religious ceremonial, and other ordinances es- 
tablished among the Jewish people, remarkably 
and expressively figurative of a future and moral 
meaning ; and in a code of civil legislation stri- 
kingly adapted to preserve testimony, and to per- 
petuate the oracles of prophecy, as well as to 
guard from corruption or oblivion the ceremonial 
and legal rites and figures themselves. For the 
civil polity of the Jewish people was completely 
interwoven with the history and ritual of their 
religion ; the evidences and memorials of their 
church and of the titles to private property 
were preserved together ; their sacred books were 
the law of the land, and the literature of the na- 
tion. Yet their ritual, splendid, complicated, and 
ceremonious, was filled with ordinances which 
they were enjoined, by all their revered teach- 
ers, and by the law itself, to observe with scru- 
pulous rigour, and to make the subject of their 
constant meditation; whilst they were taught 
the same authority that these had no value or 
efficacy in themselves. But the singular appli- 
cability of many of these emblematic ordinances 
to the doctrines and the moral precepts of 
Christianity, is such as could not have arisen 
from accident; and no parallel coincidence can 



16 



be found to it, existing in the rites of supersti- 
tion, or in the imagination of enthusiastic writers, 
living at remote periods from each other. 

4thly. In a secondary, or allusive, or gradually 
accomplishing sense of prophecy, analogous to, 
and harmonizing with, this emblematic institu- 
tion, whereby every promise of a temporary na- 
ture was made the sign and pledge of a more 
durable and universal benefit. 

This evidence has appeared very powerful to 
many wise and great men, among them to Bacon 
and Pascal. But since there has been some con- 
troversy on this head, if we rather choose to 
avoid connecting the argument with any parti- 
cular theory of interpretation, we may take it in 
a broader and looser sense, and say, that it con- 
sists in a multiplicity of passages not primarily 
referring to the events of the Christian dispensa- 
tion, but evidently appearing, from their number 
and aptitude, to have been purposely so framed as 
when those events had occurred, to bear a natu- 
ral and obvious application to them, and thus to 
enlarge the utility of the book containing them 
from a transitory and local to a universal pur- 
pose.* 

These several classes of prophetic evidence 
are, it is doubtless to be admitted, of differing 



* See note B, 



17 



degrees of value ; and the direct and positive 
prediction is of far the greatest use for refuting 
objectors, and inviting and fixing the attention of 
the doubting and careless. But that once done, 
and the groundwork of our faith firmly laid, the 
additional proofs afforded by figurative rites, and 
by indirect or allusive predictions, are, from the 
clear indications which they afford of one magni- 
ficent and harmonious plan of revelation, of 
greater importance than any increased number 
of plainer prophecies : somewhat upon the same 
principle as in matters of ordinary human juris- 
prudence, (in a criminal trial, for instance,) indi- 
rect testimony, circumstantial evidence, casual 
coincidences, agreement of attested facts to 
known character and opinion, may, in addition 
to a certain amount of positive proof, form a 
body of testimony infinitely more conclusive than 
would be afforded by any number of witnesses 
whatever, all deposing to the same naked facts. 
Hence the evidence rises in grandeur and interest, 
is more complicated, less within the power of 
human art or fraud to have invented, and wholly 
beyond the probability of having arisen from any 
accidental conjuncture of events. For, if after 
finding predictions of a direct and positive char- 
acter, we observe that there are yet many others 
So constructed as not to be of their own interpre- 

3 



18 



tation,* but which, while they were so formed as 
to be obscure before the event, as soon as that 
occurred, became clear— is not this precisely 
such a body of predictive testimony as we would 
most desire, and which would most effectually 
exclude the supposition of artful contrivance, as 
well as of infatuation and enthusiasm, wilfully 
accommodating events to suit accredited predic- 
tions? 

If the sceptic demands clear and direct pro- 
phecy, such as would have been understood be- 
fore its accomplishment, and would lead to an 
expectation of the event — that is at hand. 

There are many such passages ; and we know, 
from the unsuspected and unimpeachable testi- 
mony of Tacitus and Josephus, that they did ex- 
cite an expectation of the approach of some such 
events about the time of fulfilment. If (like Gib- 
bon, in his anonymous Letter to Hurd upon the Pro- 
phecies of Daniel) he complains that these pre- 
dictions are so clear as to afford ground for sus- 
pecting imposture and forgery, other predictions 
of another, and again of yet another nature, may 

* The learned reader willperceive that 1 have adopted Horsley's version 
of the Apostle's words, jcfWj mitos-toc; ; but the correctness or incorrectness 
of that translation has little connection with the general argument. It may 
be worth noting that this interpretation , which is commonly supposed to be 
original with Horsley, is to be found in the Opuscula Philologica, he. of We- 
rensels, a professor at Berne, in the earlier part of the last century, a wri- 
ter little known, but of great good sense. 



19 



be presented to his examination, some of them of 
the kind just described, obscure before, and clear 
after the fulfilment, and some again more sha- 
dowy and undefined, somewhat resembling those 
hints and allusions which the mind of a speaker 
or writer, filled with some great and engrossing 
contemplation, will unexpectedly throw out, when 
engaged on any other subject of feebler or more 
transient interest. 

Though, indeed, the chief use of those 
indirect and circumstantial prophetic attesta- 
tions, is not to enable the believer to argue 
with disputatious opponents ; and it seems to be 
a serious logical error, into which some of the 
soundest reasoners have occasionally fallen, to 
consider them as designed only for combating 
the objections of the sceptic, or for furnishing 
plausible grounds of argument with the wilfully 
ignorant, or perversely careless. On the contrary, 
the argument thus furnished, can hardly be un- 
derstood but by those who search diligently for 
truth, and are willing to embrace it when found ; 
nor can its full force be felt, till the revelation it 
supports be received as true, or at least as highly 
probable. It then throws a strong and clear light 
upon the unity of its doctrines, the plan of its 
development, and the harmony of its system. It 
may, therefore, be vain to offer it to those who will 
not look upon any testimony which is not forced 



20 



upon their attention; and on this subject, as on 
many other points of moral evidence, he who is 
most rationally, as well as most deeply convinced, 
will most readily admit and understand the seem- 
ing contradiction, that belief of the doctrine is 
necessary to the full understanding of it — Credi- 
di, ideoque intellexi* 

Much light has been thrown upon the philoso- 
phy of this prophetic evidence by Hurd, in his 
Lectures, and by Horsley, in three or four noble 
sermons; and it has been treated of, though not 
in a formal and didactic manner, yet with great 
ability, by two illustrious laymen, Pascal in his 
Pensees, and by Lord President Forbes, in an 
unfinished essay, in his posthumous works. 
These two great men were trained to habits of 
close reasoning, and of weighing evidence in very 
different schools — the one in the retirement of 
solitary study and mathematical research — the 
other in the active pursuits of the law and politi- 
cal life ; but both of them appear to be equally 
impressed with the magnitude and grandeur of 
this long and various, yet uniform testimony. It 
must, however, be confessed, that modern the- 
ology has, by no means, supplied the deficiency 
of which Lord Bacon complained two centuries 
ago, by furnishing a work " in which every pro- 
phecy of scripture should be sorted with the 
event fulfilling the same throughout all ages of 



21 



the world, both for the better confirmation of the 
faith, and the better illumination of the Church, 
touching those parts of prophecies which are yet 
unfulfilled." 

This is a work of which we may still say with 
him, " I find a deficiency ; but it is to be done with 
wisdom, sobriety, and reverence, or not at all."* 

The extensive range of argument and inquiry 
which remains after the historical and prophetic 
testimony have been separately considered, has 
been commonly summed up under the single 
head of Internal Evidence. 

Under this general name, two very distinct spe- 
cies of evidence are frequently confounded, and 
that, too, by some of the most accurate thinkers 
and reasoners. 

The one is that which may be more properly 
termed critical evidence, or if the phrase may be 
allowed, historical internal evidence. It consists 
of those marks of authenticity and those presump- 
tions of truth and honesty, in any historical or 
narrative composition, which arise from style, lan- 
guage, or dialect ; from the particularity, natu- 
ralness and probability of the narrative ; from 
the correspondence and agreement of parts to 
each other, and of language, allusions, or opi- 
nions, to the professed character of the writer or 
speaker. 

* Advancement of Learning, Book II. 



22 



The other, and much higher species of in- 
ternal evidence, and more strictly entitled to 
that appellation, but which, for distinction, we 
may term the moral internal evidence, is that 
powerful impression of truth arising from the 
nature of the doctrines themselves, and the cha- 
racter and influence of the dispensation. Con- 
sidered speculatively, it is founded on the confor- 
mity of the doctrines to enlightened reason and to 
truth, either previously known, or intuitively ac- 
knowledged as soon as presented — upon their 
utility, their beauty, fitness, and moral excel- 
lence ; and in a more practical point of view, as 
relates to our individual reception of them, it 
arises from their influence on the affections and 
character, their adaptation to our nature and 
wants, and their effect upon the heart and life. 

The former species of evidence resembles that 
by which we would judge of the authenticity and 
credit of such a work as those Orations of Cicero, 
which Markland, Wolfius, and other critics, have, 
from their style and manner, asserted to be spu- 
rious, and the work of some ancient rhetorician ;* 
or, to take a modern instance, it is argued upon 



* The orations, Post Reditum,Pro Domo Sua, Ad Quirites, and De Harus- 
picum Responsis, though found in most manuscripts, are, according to the 
better opinion of critics, not genuine, though unquestionably of great and 
probably of classical antiquity. Wolfius, and other German critics, have 
also doubted of the authenticity of the Oration " Pro Marcello " 



23 



much the same principles upon which English an- 
tiquarians have, within the last half century, dis- 
cussed and rejected the spurious plays and poems 
forged by Ireland, and ascribed to Shakspeare, 
or the still more ingenious fabrications of Chat- 
terton. Or, to draw an example from the politi- 
cal history of England in a former age, it was on 
these principles, connected with such slight ex- 
ternal testimony as could be found, that English 
critics and historians have decided upon the au- 
thenticity of the Icon Basilike, originally publish- 
ed as the production of King Charles L but now 
generally believed to have been written by Bishop 
Gauden. The controversies which have been 
carried on among the historians and critics of the 
continent of Europe, concerning the authenticity 
of the Memoirs of Prince Eugene, ascribed to 
himself, and of the Testament Politique of Car- 
dinal Richelieu, will furnish other examples.* 

The other species of evidence resembles, in 
nature, (though it is certainly much higher in 
degree,) the estimate which the philosophical in- 
quirer forms of the truth or falsehood of an ethi- 

* In both these cases there is, I believe, external evidence against the ge- 
nuineness of these works ; but, on the other hand, it has been urged that if 
Richelieu and Prince Eugene did not in fact write these works, their real 
authors must have been men of at least equal talent and knowledge of the 
subject with the alleged authors — which is scarcely probable. It is from 
this internal evidence that Say, in his n Economic Politique," considers 
them as genuine. 



24 



eal or a metaphysical system, as of Smith's Theory 
of Moral Sentiments, for instance, or of the doc- 
trines of Cudworth's Immutable Morality ; where 
we draw the materials of our judgment, not from 
extrinsic knowledge, but from the first principles 
- of reason, and the study of our own minds. 

This critical internal evidence necessarily con- 
sists of many and minute particulars, every one 
of which, singly, is of comparatively little power ; 
but which, when they are made to converge to one 
focus, form a full and satisfactory light. The in- 
quiry has been pursued by different minds, on ve- 
ry various principles, and, in fact, embraces two 
wholly independent branches of argument. Of 
these, one is purely critical, comprehending a 
large extent of scholarship and of antiquarian 
research, directed and chiefly limited to the 
question of the authenticity* of the commonly 
received books of scripture, as shown by their 
conformity with the style, opinions, manners, 
and history of their professed time and country. 
The other, guided only by good sense and a ge- 
neral acquaintance with human nature, argues 

* Some respectable writers, on subjects of critical inquiry, have distin- 
guished between the words genuineness and authenticity, referring one to 
the character of the work, the other to the veracity of its statements. — 
Their own use of the word, however, is contradictory ; and there is no 
authority in good English usage for the distinction : these words being 
constantly used as synonymous. The true distinction is between the aulhm- 
ticily of a writing and its credibility. 



25 



boldly and directly from the coherence of the 
narrative, and the manner of narration, to the 
probable truth of the facts related, and thence 
backward to the genuineness of the books. Most 
of the first part of Dr. Lardner's great work on 
the Credibility of the Gospel History, relates 
mainly and primarily to the former question ; 
while no better model of the manner in which 
investigations of the other kind should be carried 
on, can be given, than that most original, inge- 
nious, and Well reasoned work of Paley, the Horse 
Paulina?, in which he proves the veracity of St. 
Paul, and of the historian of his early labours, from 
their unaffected circumstantiality in narrating, and 
in transiently and naturally alluding to facts, and 
the indirect, and evidently undesigned coinci- 
dences which are scattered over their writings. 

All such investigations, on whatever principles 
they are conducted, end in presenting to us a 
complication of probabilities, which can be ac- 
counted for, by the candid and diligent inquirer, 
upon one supposition only, that of the genuine- 
ness and truth of the narrative. 

Nevertheless, it must be allowed, that the as- 
sent thus produced, though it may be full and un- 
doubting, is yet comparatively cold and feeble, 
and were there no other ground than this for our 
reception of revealed truth, it would probably be 
received much as we receive historical accounts 

4 



26 



of past ages and distant countries ; as being valu- 
able and curious information — as being truth cer- 
tainly, but not as truth coming directly home to 
our personal interests, sympathies, and duties. 

This evidence, too, is limited in its application, 
being addressed to comparatively but a few : to 
the scholar versed in languages and antiquities — • 
to the general reader, somewhat accustomed to 
compare styles, and judge of probability and con- 
sistency — or to the reasoner and man of observa- 
tion, trained by the discipline of professional stu- 
dies, of active habits of business, or at least of 
the varied commerce of life, in some degree to 
examine evidence, to analyze character, to sift 
out and weigh all those indications of veracity and 
honesty, which influence the judgment of men 
towards each other in society. The other spe- 
cies, which is that moral evidence arising from 
the manner of teaching, and the character of the 
doctrines taught, is of a grander and nobler na- 
ture, as well as of a far broader utility. 

It addresses itself, not to the scholar, the critic, 
the practised and sharp-sighted inquirer into hu- 
man conduct and motives; but to man, as a 
moral being, as an accountable creature, as pos- 
sessing certain common and universal principles 
of reason, feeling and conscience. 

I will not here enlarge upon this subject, be- 
cause its importance demands a separate and 



27 



more minute examination of its character. My 
chief object in this Essay, is to call the atten- 
tion of the reader, to the fact of the remarkable 
variety of the several classes of the evidences of 
revelation, and of the numerous and diversified 
particulars of which each class is composed, and 
to show how strikingly they are adapted to invite 
the examination, and to instruct the reason, of 
men of all ranks of intellect and acquirement : 
provided, only, that they be examined with dili- 
gence, attention, candour, and a fair use of that 
sort and degree of knowledge within the reach of 
every individual. For this is a condition upon 
which the discovery of all moral truth seems 
more or less suspended ; a condition founded on 
the moral nature of man, and uniformly asserted 
in the revelation itself. 

Now, from all this variety, thus harmonizing 
in one united attestation to the same facts, re- 
sults a very peculiar, and, to my mind, a very im- 
pressive argument. 

Let us suppose every distinct head of proof to 
be much weaker than it really is — or, taking the 
case of any individual, let us suppose, that from 
want of knowledge, from preconceived opinions, 
prejudices of education, or any other cause which 
may tend to cloud the judgment— any or all of 
these several arguments, though appearing, as 
they must, in no inconsiderable degree probable, 



28 



should yet seem to him to lie open to very seri- 
ous objections, and to labour under difficulties 
which he is wholly unable to remove. 

Nevertheless, unless he allows the religion to 
be true, so far at any rate as relates to its funda- 
mental facts, how can he possibly account for the 
existence of so many different probabilities, what- 
ever he may think of their force singly, yet all 
uniting upon one great argument, and bearing 
witness in corroboration of each other. If he 
does not admit the substantial truth of the reli- 
gion, must he not literally embrace the rhetorical 
paradox of Rousseau, and confess that the in- 
ventors of such a narrative were more miraculous 
than the hero ? 

Is there any doubtful historical relation so cor- 
roborated! Any other religious creed so sup- 
ported'? Any ethical or philosophical system of 
human invention so evidenced 1 Arguing, then, 
from the common laws of belief, can he conceive 
possible that all these, so many and such different 
kinds of probabilities, (even if some of them should 
be but faint and inconclusive,) have yet been heap- 
ed together from so many quarters, without any 
real foundation in truth — that such an unparalleled 
conjunction of the ordinary marks of veracity, 
should have thus unaccountably been brought 
together, to give credit and currency to a mass 
of fraudulent or enthusiastic delusions I 



29 



We well know, that in the ordinary affairs of 
life, as (amongst many other instances which will 
naturally occur to any reader) in matters of judi- 
cial investigation, there is frequently a ' literally' 
irresistible weight of conviction accumulated from 
the combination of a great number of witnesses, no 
single one of whom, from want of general intelli- 
gence, or of acquaintance with the peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the case, or even of fair character, 
could be considered as entitled to the highest cre- 
dit. If such a combination be without any suspi- 
cion of fraud and compact, the evidence becomes 
perfectly conclusive. How much more should this 
be conceded, when the corroborations come from 
such very distant quarters, so unconnected with 
each other, and even so hostile ; so impossible to 
have been fraudulently arranged by artifice ; and 
above all, when each of these peculiar heads of 
confirmation comprises an innumerable multi- 
tude of particulars ; some of them of great direct- 
ness, and simplicity, and power, while others are 
very slight and indirect — and, if taken singly, 
scarcely amount to a probability, except that they 
show conclusively, and more conclusively than 
stronger testimony, the natural and inartificial 
character of the whole evidence 1 

It is true that there are minds, and some of them 
in no ordinary degree vigorous and acute, upon 
whom this chain of reasoning may have but little 



30 



effect. There are some thinking men, who, in 
whatever inquiry they may be engaged, seize 
boldly on a single, strong, or prominent point of 
the question, and are not willing to leave it for any 
other. It is rarely, however, that this can be done 
without some hazard of error, or at least without 
danger of overlooking some valuable truth ; and it 
is more commonly the characteristic of a presump- 
tuous, than of a powerful intellect. The history of 
all human science, and more especially of moral 
and metaphysical opinion, will show very amply 
how large a portion of the most dangerous false- 
hood, and unsound speculation, which have pre- 
vailed in the world, has arisen from partial and 
desultory glances, and from the want of that 
" universality of contemplation," which Lord Ba- 
con long ago noted as the main source of error 
in opinion, as well in physical, as in moral inqui- 
ries. 

Nor is this, as may seem at the first glance, an 
argument requiring deep and extensive learning 
to estimate rightly, and therefore of course not 
at all fitted for popular use. On the contrary, 
it is founded on a process of reasoning of daily 
use in the occurrences of common life : such, 
for instance, as every juryman employs in de- 
ciding upon a complicated and contested cause. 
The materials of it must be partly taken upon 
competent authority by many, and are partly 



31 



within the reach of all ; and the inference is plain 
and immediate, and may be combined and de- 
duced at once by common sense. To compre- 
hend its bearing, it is by no means necessary to 
be able to weigh accurately the value of every 
individual point of the historical and antiquarian 
proof, or the force of all the reasoning which it 
includes. It only requires that degree of know- 
ledge which is possessed by most persons of or- 
dinary information, or at least may be possessed 
by them; for much of the ignorance on these 
subjects, among all classes in our state of soci- 
ety, arises from wilful inattention. It only re- 
quires us to know, that there is a large historical 
evidence to Christianity, which, though some men 
of no contemptible learning and ability have la- 
boured to overthrow it, has commanded the assent 
of virtuous and disinterested men — men of busi- 
ness as well as of learning. That there is a pro- 
phetic testimony, which, though it is in part ob- 
scure, in part liable to controversy, in part requiring 
attentive study to comprehend, and in part ap- 
parently yet unaccomplished, may, in its general 
outline and prominent parts, be sufficiently un- 
derstood from the ordinary instruction from the 
pulpit, or gathered from the most popular and 
elementary treatises — that there is an appear- 
ance of natural and unstudied truth in the style 
and manner of the Gospels and Epistles, of which 



32 



those features, depending upon an acquaintance 
with the language and manners of antiquity have 
been repeatedly examined by the learned, whilst 
the stronger marks of honesty and sincerity in 
manner may be estimated by any man of good 
sense and common observation. Finally, it 
demands of us to turn our attention to the evi- 
dence arising from the character of the Christian 
religion, its morality, its devotion, its agreement 
with the truths of our own hearts — of all evi- 
dences the most within our reach, and yet the 
most difficult to attend to. 

The more all or any of these truths are exam- 
ined and studied, so much the more numerous 
and cogent will they appear ; but a very general 
and superficial view of them, if it be but an unpre- 
judiced one, will show the existence of many such 
points of evidence, which, if not irresistible, all 
possess at least some degree of probability. 

If this be so, no prudent and no honest man 
should turn contemptuously from this evidence ; 
because, to his understanding, or his imperfect 
knowledge, no single part of it seems conclusive, 
without first attending to the concurrent power 
of the whole. 

It is for this purpose, that when we have tho- 
roughly digested, and familiarized to our minds 
the historical and prophetic arguments in proof of 
Christianity, and have in the same manner satis- 



33 



fied ourselves in the study of the innumerable 
points which compose and fortify its other heads 
of moral demonstration, it is highly useful to re- 
tire back, as it were, from this minute inspection, 
to such a general and comprehensive survey as 
allows us to take in at once the distinct outlines 
of all, and observe how they severally harmonize, 
both in their various component parts, and with 
each other. Then, to use the language of Pope, 
though with a more elevated, as well as a more 
practical meaning, than ever entered into the 
poet's philosophy, we shall perceive that, in reve- 
lation, as in the other works of God, 

Nothing is foreign — parts relate to whole ; 
One all-extending, all-preserving soul 
Connects all being — nothing stands alone ; 
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown. 

Prophecy announces the advent of the religion 
of Jesus ; History records its progress ; Lite- 
rature and Criticism combine to attest to the 
muniments of its doctrines : but its surest wit- 
nesses are to be found in man's own breast— in 
the grandeur of his thoughts — in the lowness of 
his desires — in the aspirations which lift him to- 
wards the heavens — in the vices which weigh 
him to the earth — in his sublime, his inexplica- 
ble conceptions of Infinity and Eternity — in his 
humiliating experience of folly, misery, and guilt. 



5 



ESSAY II. 



Of the Power of Human Reason to judge of the Internal 
Evidence of Truth in the Doctrines and Precepts of 
Religion. 

As far as we can distinctly trace the manner 
in which Christianity has commended itself to 
the obedience and affections of its disciples in 
these later ages, whether we look to the history 
of its triumphs over pagan superstition, or ob- 
serve the grounds upon which the great body of 
sincere but unlearned Christians amongst our- 
selves rest their belief, it will be found that, so 
far as religion is an object of the reason, (and 
where it is genuine it must be so to some extent 
in all men) its internal evidence, or, that cha- 
racter of truth and excellence impressed upon 
its greater and more prominent doctrines and 
precepts, forms, to most persons, the chief source 
cf rational conviction, and their firmest ground 
of reliance. Yet it is very remarkable that seve- 
ral writers, and some of them among the ablest 
and most zealous defenders of our faith, have, in 
stating the proofs of our religion, either passed 
by in silence, or else explicitly and decidedly 



36 



rejected, all reference to this head of evidence. 
Taking this opinion in its full extent, and in the 
unqualified manner in which it has frequently- 
been stated, it has always appeared to me to be 
in plain contradiction to common sense, and to all 
observation and experience. But as the erro- 
neous opinions of wise and honest men upon 
important subjects of moral and theological 
speculation/ are seldom wholly unmixed with 
some portion of truth, and are very often the ex- 
tremes ar^d excess of right rather than positively 
wrong, it is certainly an interesting and may be 
a useful inquiry to examine the reasons of this 
rejection, and to see whether it be not founded 
in part upon sound principles — whether the argu- 
ments by which it is supported do not involve or 
lead to some valuable truth ; and if so, how far, 
and with what limitations, it may be safe to adopt 
or modify this conclusion. 

The latest, and at present the best known and 
most popular of these writers, is Dr. Chalmers, 
who has devoted to the consideration of this ques- 
tion, a whole chapter of his eloquent and ingenious 
essay on the " Evidence and Authenticity of the 
Christian Revelation," besides frequently touching 
upon it or alluding to it in other parts of his work. 
He appears to be so fully satisfied with the over- 
whelming force and abundance of the historical 
argument, and at the same time so deeply im- 



37 



pressed with the sense of the impotence and vain 
wanderings of human reason, whenever it aspires 
to sit in judgment upon the ways of God to man, 
and to theorize upon, or to anticipate by conjec- 
ture, the laws of its Author's providence and gov- 
ernment, that he boldly and decidedly hurries on 
to the conclusion of disclaiming all support from 
what is commonly understood by the internal 
evidences of revelation. 

" We can reason," says he, " upon the proce- 
dure of man in given circumstances, but we have 
no experience of God. We can reason upon the 
procedure of man in given circumstances, because 
that is an accessible subject, and comes under the 
cognizance of observation ; but we cannot reason 
on the procedure of the Almighty in given circum- 
stances. That is an inaccessible subject, and 
comes not within the limits of direct and per- 
sonal observation. We must take our lesson as 
it comes to us, provided we are satisfied before- 
hand that it comes from an authentic source. We 
must set up no presumption of our own against 
the authority of the unquestionable evidence that 
we have, and reject all suggestions which our de- 
fective experience can furnish, as the follies of a 
rash and fanciful speculation." " It is not for 
man to assume what is right, or proper, or natu- 
ral, for the Almighty to do. It is not in the mere 



38 



spirit of piety that we say so — it is in the spirit 
of the soundest experimental philosophy."* 

These views Dr. Chalmers dilates upon and 
enforces at large, with his usual fervid and copi- 
ous logic ; arguing from the principles of the 
Baconian philosophy, which teaches that, as man 
is ignorant of all things antecedent to observa- 
tion, it is upon observation alone that true sci- 
ence can ever be founded — from the errors into 
which the mind blindly plunges the moment it 
ceases to observe, and begins to excogitate or 
to theorize — from the past and the present 
state of all human science, experimentally wit- 
nessing and proving this humiliating but salu- 
tary truth. Thence he infers that, if caution 
and humility be esteemed philosophical when 
employed in our narrow field of investigation, in 
this low nook of the universe, and " upon this 
little bank and shoal of time," they should be 
thought equally so when exercised upon a sub- 
ject so vast, so awful, and so remote from direct 
and personal observation as the government of 
God ; and that it is accordingly in direct hostility 
to all true wisdom for beings of a day to assume 
to sit in judgment upon the Eternal, and to ap- 
ply their paltry experience to the counsels of his 
unfathomable wisdom. He therefore maintains 



* Chalmer's Evidence and Authenticity, ch, viii. 



39 



the total insufficiency of natural reason to pro- 
nounce upon the intrinsic merits of any revela- 
tion ; but holds that the authority of Christianity 
must rest exclusively upon its " external eviden- 
ces, and upon such marks of honesty in the his- 
torical portions of its sacred books as would ap- 
ply to any human composition." " In discussing 
this evidence," says he, " we walk by the light of 
experience. We assign the degree of weight 
that is due to the testimony of the first Christian 
upon the observed principles of human action." 

He argues, too, from the abuse of the mode of 
reasoning which he opposes, and shows how na- 
turally it leads sceptical men of talents, science, 
and literature, to reject revelation because it 
teaches certain doctrines abhorrent to their pre- 
conceived notions, their vanity, or their taste, 
though confessedly confirmed by outward tes- 
timony, which they themselves admit to be won- 
derfully strong. " But on a subject so much 
above us and beyond us, we should never think 
of opposing any preconception to the evidence 
of history. We should maintain the humility 
of the inductive spirit. We should offer our 
mind as a blank surface to every thing that comes 
to them supported by unexceptionable evidence. 
It is not from the nature of the facts themselves 
that we would pronounce upon their credibility, 
but from the nature of that testimony by which 
they are supported." 



40 



Dr. Chalmers was led to these conclusions by 
arguing on the system and in the spirit of the 
Scotch school of metaphysicians, who have ap- 
plied, probably too exclusively, the principles 
of Lord Bacon's philosophy of observation and 
experiment to the study of the mind, and the 
investigation of moral truth, professing to reject 
all d priori reasoning as useless, if not presump- 
tuous. In this peculiar train of thought he is 
original ; otherwise he is by no means the first, 
who has advanced these opinions. 

They have been zealously maintained at vari- 
ous times, during the two last centuries, by writers 
of great talent and learning, both clerical and lay ; 
and it is not a little remarkable, too, by men en- 
tertaining the most opposite views, well consist- 
ent with a common acknowledgment of the au- 
thority of the Christian revelation, who have 
supported them from the most dissimilar motives, 
and with the most contradictory arguments. 

Some scholars and philosophers, suspicious of 
every thing that they feared might give colour 
and countenance to enthusiasm, and anxious to 
place the authority of revelation upon the same 
foundation of solid reason and distinct outward 
evidence upon which we build our faith in histo- 
ry, and our judgment in most of the affairs of 
life, have argued as if the human intellect could 
judge accurately only of two classes of reasoning, 



41 



that of strict mathematical demonstration, and 
that founded upon the observation of palpa- 
ble and material objects, and the experience of 
life ; and they have therefore been led to believe 
that all inferences drawn from the consciousness 
of our own individual moral nature, and especially 
from our feelings and wishes, hopes, sorrows and 
fears, must be often fanatical, and always uncer- 
tain, if not wholly fallacious. Hence it is that 
the learned Le Clerc tells us, that whatever faith 
is at this day in the world among Christians, de- 
pends purely upon the testimony of men.* His 
illustrious cotemporary and friend, John Locke, in 
some passages of the Essay on the Human Un- 
derstanding, seems occasionally to lean to the 
same opinion, (which is in fact very much in unison 
with his metaphysical doctrines, as to the origin 
of ideas, and the general tone and spirit of his 
philosophy) although elsewhere he argues ably 
and confidently from the internal evidence afford- 
ed by the purity of the morality and the reasona- 
bleness of the doctrines of Christianity. 

On the other hand, this very same conclusion 
has been still more warmly maintained by many 
excellent men, who, full of zeal and reverence 
for the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, were fir- 



* I quote Le Clerc at second-hand, and cannot refer to the passage or 
work. 

6 



42 



ed with a holy indignation at the intrusion of 
speculative ethics and metaphysical subtleties, 
so often fallacious and Unsubstantial, and always 
of little practical edification, into the public teach- 
ing of Christian divines-^sometimes thus direct- 
ly and openly mingling with and corrupting the 
most important revealed truths ; but much often- 
er silently usurping their place and peculiar office 
and honours. 

They have therefore asked " the men of 
morals, nurtured in the shades of Academus," in 
the indignant language of Cowper : — 

Is Christ the abler teacher, or the schools ? 
If Christ, then why resort at every turn 
To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short 
Of man's occasions, when in Him reside 
Grace, knowledge, comfort — an unfathomed store ? 
(;""" p • How oft when Paul has served us with a text, 
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preached \ 

This was the feeling which animated Dr. Pat- 
ten, Bishop Home, Jones of Nayland, and other 
divines of the Hutchinsonian school, in the con- 
troversy which arose at Oxford about the middle 
of the last century, and which was maintained for 
some time with great warmth by these writers on 
the one side, and on the other by Dr. Kennicot, 
the celebrated biblical critic, and other men of 
ability and note in their day. This controversy 
has long ago passed into oblivion ; but I have 
referred to it as well to mark the history of opi- 



43 



nion, and to show that Dr. Chalmers is not singu- 
lar in his views, as because Home and his friends, 
have, from their great sincerity and learning, and 
their many amiable qualities, exercised, and 
on most accounts very deservedly exercised, a 
great influence over the religious opinions of 
Great Britain — extending far beyond the circle of 
those who can be, strictly considered as belong- 
ing to the same school ; and which is to this day 
clearly discernible. 

They maintained, as Dr. Chalmers does, though 
not precisely for the same reasons, that the Chris- 
tian religion, so far as it is recommendable to the 
understanding, stands solely upon the foundation 
of miracles wrought, and prophecies fulfilled, 
which, when plainly alleged upon the warrant of 
sacred history, demand an implicit assent to 
the doctrines they are adduced to confirm, and 
therefore supersede all abstract speculation, all 
reasonings, d priori, concerning fitness, proba- 
bility, grounds and reasons of utility, or the 
correspondence of the doctrines with the com- 
mon notions of men on the principles of, what 
these divines decidedly and unqualifiedly hold to 
be, a supposed natural religion. This they as- 
serted, "not, says one of their ablest reasoners,* 
because they judged it right to admit any propo- 



« r»r. Fatten, 



44 



sition as true, upon any authority whatsoever, 
which is really and manifestly contrary to fitness 
or common sense, nor because human reason is 
blind or power) ess ; but because, in all reasonings 
concerning the fitness, wisdom, justice, goodness, 
of any supposed procedure, human reason is ne- 
cessarily weak from the want of proper data, 
however strong within its proper sphere ; as an 
eagle's eye would be weak if it should attempt to 
look into the kingdom of heaven." 

High as is the authority for these doctrines, 
there is still a very far greater and more uniform 
weight of opinion on the opposite side, from the 
days of the earliest Christian apologists, down to 
our own times. 

The character and efficacy of this religion 
have been always relied upon, and continually 
urged as presenting the most cogent and persua- 
sive argument for its authority and reception, as 
well by almost all divines, essayists, and writers 
of popular and hortatory theology, as by those who, 
like Arnobius and Lactantius among the ancients, 
or Grotius, Pascal, and Addison among the mo- 
derns, haye written expressly upon its evidences. 
But although the deliberate opinions of the wise 
and good are always entitled to respect, and the 
agreement of many of them must generally fur- 
nish a strong prima facie proof, if not of cer„ 
tain truth, yet clearly of probability; still this 



45 



is a question which should not be decided by 
authority alone, since we have the means of 
judging for ourselves within our power, about us 
and within us. 

This is a subject which, while it involves the 
highest principles of mental philosophy, is of the 
most extensive and the most practical importance. 
Let us examine it, then, not in the spirit of con- 
troversy, but with the honest hope of being able 
to extract from apparently jarring opinions that 
portion of truth which each of them may contain. 

There is, without question, in these remarks of 
Chalmers and others who think with him, a great 
deal of most valuable truth, well calculated to 
sober the mind, by making it sensible of its own 
weakness, and thus to check that presumptuous 
philosophy, or spurious theology, which, after 
admitting the message of revelation in general 
terms, goes on to pick and cull from its contents, 
and to say upon its own authority, " this fact or 
doctrine is true and divine, while that is to be 
rejected as improbable." 

It is clearly of the very nature of revelation, 
that it must be of something not previously 
known, and not discoverable by unaided reason ; 
and man's hypothetical conjectures concerning 
the being and government of his Maker, are, and 
must be, wilder and more distant from the truth 
than those of a child, respecting the methods and 



46 



causes of the deepest plans of policy, or the most 
complicated or stupendous works of human art, 
invention or science. If every observation of our 
own nature, and all our trials of our own powers 
in the way of invention or of speculation, did not 
at once teach us this humbling lesson, the history 
of physical and astronomical science would afford 
an unanswerable and practical demonstration of 
it, in the long series of systems in chemistry, me- 
dicine, astronomy — in short, in every department 
of natural knowledge, which were founded upon 
pure hypothesis, and to our limited comprehen- 
sion appeared at the first glance highly satis- 
factory, and sufficient to account for all the phe- 
nomena, until, enlightened by a wider observation 
of nature itself, we saw their perfect absurdity. 

No where is there a more signal demonstration 
of this great truth, than in the science of medi- 
cine. 

That has been from very early ages, a learned 
profession, filled with ingenious men, anxious to 
extend the bounds of human science, and aug- 
ment the power of their own art. The field of 
inquiry, though of the deepest interest to all, and 
though submitted to our closest and most minute 
inspection, is comparatively narrow ; yet it is 
said by those who have most accurately traced 
the history of the healing art, that of all the disco- 
veries which have crowned the labours of the 



47 



anatomist, and the researches of the physiologist, 
not a single one has been the direct result of 
hypothetical reasoning. 

Analogy, from observed facts, guided by that 
general presumption of the unity and simplicity 
of the laws of nature, which it is the uniform 
tendency of scientific investigation to excite and 
confirm, has sometimes, it is true, created an indis- 
tinct expectation of those laws which were after- 
wards found really to exist ; but it was humble 
and diligent observation alone that collected and 
arranged the great and solid acquisitions of 
science ; while in its sure though slow progress, 
it sternly demolished theory after theory, which 
philosophical speculation had framed as to the 
probable structure, the uses, and governing laws 
of the human frame. 

If reason is then thus powerless in her specu- 
lations upon the laws of that little part of the 
material world most immediately subject to her 
own government, inspection and experiment, 
how should she dare to frame a conjecture as to 
what is or ought to be the character of an eter- 
nal and infinite plan of moral government? 
When this plan is in part unfolded to her study, 
with sufficient attestation of its truth, (no matter 
of what nature,) she has clearly no right to re- 
ject any portion of it, because it may not in any 
way conform to her own past experience, or be- 



48 



cause the wisdom of it cannot be distinctly 
traced, or every plausible difficulty at once re- 
moved. Whatever facts are sufficiently proved 
it is her duty to receive. And if this be so, does 
it not follow that it is equally presumptuous and 
foolish to attempt to form any judgment what- 
ever upon the essential truth and value of a reve- 
lation when it is offered to us ? Ought we not, 
and must we not confine ourselves strictly to the 
examination of the external testimony with which 
it is accompanied ? 

This inference does not by any means neces- 
sarily follow. The conclusion is too broad. For, 
it must be remembered, on the other hand, that 
this same faculty of reason by which we judge of 
the force and value of testimony, and by which 
we resolve the multiplied facts collected by our 
observation and experience into general laws, has 
yet other and higher objects, and uses, and enables 
us to discover various important relations — rela- 
tions not gathered from external observation, but 
which the mind develops in the exercise of its 
native powers — besides those of probable and con- 
tingent truth. That, among these are many bear- 
ing the acknowledged impress of immutability and 
of universal obligation, of certain and necessary 
existence, of right and wrong. That although we 
could not, a priori, before the observation of nature 
or the revelations of religion, anticipate the course 



49 



of either, yet, when the knowledge of God's laws, 
whether material or moral, is once brought to 
our minds, we have the power of perceiving much, 
though certainly but a part, of their fitness, their 
beauty, and their utility. That we know, and 
are conscious, that " there is a light given to 
every man that cometh into the world," and a 
" law written upon the hearts of all," and how- 
ever feeble and imperfect the knowledge which 
we gain from these may be, they are still so far a 
species of natural revelation, and cannot there- 
fore but be in strict consonance with a fuller and 
brighter manifestation of the divine wisdom, be- 
stowed in another manner. 

All of us have natural ideas of justice and 
moral excellence, and we are capable of intui- 
tive perceptions of many other truths, far beyond 
the possible range of our observation. The no- 
tion of time once awakened in our minds, swells 
of itself into that of measureless eternity — space 
expands without bounds into an incomprehensible 
infinity ; all existence proclaims to us the necessary 
pre-existence of some antecedent and intelligent 
cause ; the ideas of unbounded wisdom and pow- 
er, spontaneously spring up with the exercise of 
our faculties ; we are compelled to form moral 
estimates of ourselves and our actions, partial 
and obscure, it is true, but such as to awaken the 
conception of guilt, and the instinctive sense of 



50 



accountability ; our consciences bear witness, 
and bur thoughts " accuse or else excuse one 
another." In spite of all this, the imaginations 
of men are left at liberty to frame, and always 
have framed for themselves, codes of ethics and 
systems of religious belief, such as would best 
Conform to their vices, or flatter their pride, or 
sooth their apprehensions. But however and 
Whenever Truth appears in its might and glory, 
though mail's vices may impel him to fly from 
her light, and to dose his ear to her voice, she 
comes not as an utter stranger. There are prin- 
ciples of reason — there is a living monitor of con- 
science within, to which she can appeal, and 
which will confess her presence and acknow- 
ledge her authority, although they cannot compel 
the will to yield to her sway. 

These are in themselves vague, unimpressive, 
and wholly unconnected, either with each other, 
or with the practical springs of action in our na- 
ture, until by some other power they become em- 
bodied into a congruous form, and are rendered 
active, present and efficient. Still, they are natu- 
rally in the mind and belonging to it ; if not innate, 
they yet are certainly natural ; and they prepare 
and enable us to comprehend revelation, and to 
perceive at once the intrinsic evidence of much of 
its truth. 

This, by the way, seems to me the true 
idea of what moral philosophers have termed 



51 



Natural Religion, the very existence of which 
has been strenuously denied by some divines. 
It is not, as many philosophers have held, that 
there is really a self-evident system of religion, 
imperfect, indeed, but true and pure so far as it 
goes, to which all men, by the natural use of their 
faculties, actually do or easily may attain. All ex- 
perience, all history refutes such an opinion. 
Whole nations, wise and enlightened in other 
matters, have lived for ages in darkness, and fal- 
len down before idols, and celebrated them with 
loathsome or abominable rites ; whilst the philoso- 
pher who could throw aside the base supersti- 
tions of his age or country, when he launched into 
the vast ocean of metaphysical or even ethical 
speculation, was tossed about by every wave 
of doubt. "Doubting, hesitating, casting around 
anxious glances of perplexity and fear, my 
mind is tossed about without power to direct 
its course in the vast and shoreless ocean of 
uncertainty,"* is the feeling and eloquent con- 
fession of Cicero, describing his own specula- 
tions upon the state of the soul after death ; 
and it is a true picture of the best efforts of un- 
assisted human philosophy. Still it is just as 
evident that there are principles or powers in 
the natural constitution of the intellect which eri- 



* " Dubitans, circumspectans, hesitans, multa adversa revertens, tan- 
quam in rate in mari immenso nostra vehitur oratio." Cicero. 



52 



able it to apprehend certain sublime truths rela- 
ting to the being, attributes, and moral laws of God, 
when they are offered to its consideration, either 
by revelation, by tradition, or more imperfectly 
by the workings of its own thoughts, suggest- 
ed by experience and the course of nature and 
life: since, without these natural principles of re- 
ligion, or, to speak more correctly, without this 
natural power of understanding certain truths, 
they could never, by any power of definition or 
logic, or the observation of external nature, be 
at all brought within the sphere of our compre- 
hension. 

But when once introduced into the mind, 
these truths remain there fixed and unalterable ; 
not} without other aid, excluding erroneous or 
absurd opinions ; but neither are they ever over- 
shadowed by them. For thus, even in the wild- 
est dreams of Asiatic superstition or the gross- 
est polytheism of antiquity, the ideas of an all- 
powerful first cause, and of future accountability 
to his judgment and laws, have always kept its 
place. 

Moreover, men seldom look much into their 
own breasts ; and when they do, they soon turn 
impatiently from an examination which affords 
them but little pleasure. But that religion which 
speaks much of man's internal character, and his 
moral situation arid history, and declares many 



53 



and deeply interesting circumstances and facts 
relating to them, which he had never before 
attended to, so far submits its claims to his judg- 
ment, and enables and invites him to confirm or 
refute them, by the comparison of his nature with 
the pictures which she gives of it. While, there- 
fore, conscience, memory and observation here 
furnish the materials for the inquiry, it is the 
privilege and duty of reason to decide on the con- 
sistency and truth of this internal evidence, whilst 
it is our duty to guard well, lest the passions do 
not thrust her from the judgment seat. 

There is an obvious distinction (which has 
yet been frequently overlooked, and this has 
given rise to much of the doubt existing on this 
subject) between the power of discovering truth, 
and that of examining and deciding upon it when 
offered to our judgment. 

In matters of human science, to how few is 
the one given, and how common is the other. 
Look at that vast mass of mathematical inven- 
tion and demonstration, which has been carried 
on by gifted minds in every age, in continual 
progress, from the days of the learned priesthood 
of ancient Egypt, to those of the discoveries of 
La Place and La Grange. Who is there of the 
mathematicians of this generation, who could be 
selected as capable of alone discovering all this 
prolonged and continuous chain of admirable de- 



54 



monstration 1 If left to their own unaided re- 
searches, how far would the original and inven- 
tive genius of Newton or Pascal have carried 
them 1 Yet we know that all this body of sci- 
ence, this magnificent accumulation of the patient 
labours of so many intellects may be examined, 
and rigorously scrutinized in every step, and 
finally completely mastered and familiarized to 
the understanding in a few years' study, by a stu- 
dent, who, trusting solely to his own mind, could 
never have advanced beyond the simplest ele- 
ments of geometry. 

This reasoning may be applied, either direct- 
ly or by fair analogy, to every part of our know- 
ledge of the laws of nature or of mind, and 
it therefore seems to be neither presumptuous 
nor unphilosophical, but, on the contrary, in strict 
accordance with the soundest analogical reason- 
ing to maintain, that though " the world by 
wisdom could not know God," yet, that so far 
forth as he reveals himself to men, and calls up- 
on them to receive and obey that revealed will, he 
has given to them faculties, by no means com- 
pelling, but yet enabling them to understand 
his revelation, to perceive its truth, excellence 
and beauty, and to become sensible of their own 
wants of its instruction, as well as to estimate 
that extrinsic human testimony by which it may 
be supported or attended. 



55 



Nor is man, in the conduct of life and the dis- 
cernment of any of those principles which de- 
mand and are entitled to have an efficient control 
over his character, left solely to the guidance of 
his reasoning faculty. There are given to him 
other moral lights to guide him on the journey 
of life — other capacities and endowments, often 
enabling him to outstrip the slow and hesitating 
conclusions of his understanding — warm sympa- 
thies, social affections, feelings of gratitude, vene- 
ration and devotion ; and when, in some dread 
pause of the feverish tumult of life, he withdraws 
his attention from without, and turns it upon him- 
self, conscience awakens shame, sorrow, remorse 
and fear. All these, gross ignorance or brutal 
sensuality may keep inactive and asleep ; they 
may be wilfully disregarded in the tumult of the 
passions, or may be driven from the mind by 
vicious habits : yet, still, they are a constituent 
part of man's nature, and were bestowed upon 
him as some of the means to conduct him to 
truth and virtue. Can it then well be, that 
when the highest duties and the most momentous 
truths are presented to his acceptance, these prin- 
ciples should be wholly inoperative ? Can it be. 
that in the revelation to man, not merely of his 
Maker's will, but of his own relation to him, and 
of the mysterious history of that relation, there 
should be nothing to which the sentiments and 



56 



sympathies of our breasts are responsive ? No- 
thing to awaken the affections or to touch the 
heart ? 

Ah ! surely not — surely if such a religion be 
really true, it may be felt, as well as understood, 
by those for whom it was designed. 

Now, the existence of such a congruity be- 
tween the faith so proposed, and our purest and 
truest sentiments, in addition to its direct influ- 
ence upon the affections, constitutes an argument 
forcibly addressed to the understanding. It 
shows the adaptation of means to the end, the 
fitness of the religion to man's uses, its tenden- 
cy to purify his heart, subdue his vices, and pro- 
mole his happiness and excellence. It proves 
that it came from him who made man, and who 
knows what is in him. 

Nor does it afford any sound or valid argument 
on the opposite side, in contradiction to this tes- 
timony, that there are also deeply and thorough- 
ly interwoven in man's nature, many other prin- 
ciples of action, many appetites, sentiments, dis- 
positions and passions, in utter and active hos- 
tility to the requirements, and even to the theory 
of all true religion and revealed morality. The 
power of such principles, most frequently, is 
much too great to be opposed by other gentler 
and better affections, or to submit to the sway of 
reason. But the authority due to these several 



5? 



springs of action, is by no means to be measured 
by their relative power. There is an inexorable 
monitor within our breasts which sternly decides 
upon these claims, and which, whilst it often 
yields without a struggle to the worst and 
basest tendencies of our nature, is never wholly 
unable to give us information as to their true 
character. In the discipline of life, our selfish or 
our animal propensities, are constantly rushing in- 
to fierce collision with our moral sentiments, and 
almost as constantly mastering them ; but in this 
conflict the true characters of both are developed 
to the mind, and if we do not abuse or stupify 
our faculties of discerning right and wrong, we 
are able to approve, intellectually at least, of 
every thing that commends itself to our better 
affections, and to see the evil of that in which we 
may yet continue to take pleasure. 

Finally, to resort to the sure test of facts, it is 
certain that neither the historical nor the critical 
argument is substantially that upon which the 
faith of the great body of Christians in all ages 
has rested.* The ordinary and settled govern- 
ment of Providence has offered these grounds of 
conviction to only a limited class of society. 
They require some previous reading, a tolerable, 

* This is allowed by Dr. Chalmers, in the preface to his Essay, and it is 
difficult to reconcile his remarks there with the unqualified argument 
in the body of the work. 

8 



58 



if not a very high degree of skill in history and 
antiquity, in the inquiring into testimony, and in 
the judgment of motives and character. All this, 
in the present state of society, cannot be the lot of 
very many. How then does the unlettered Chris- 
tian judge of the truth of his religion 1 Must he 
rely blindly and implicitly upon the authority of 
his teacher 1 Can he rest with undoubting confi- 
dence upon his own transient and irregular, how- 
ever sincere and fervent, devotional feelings 1 
In short, does his reason remain wholly useless and 
inactive in this most momentous decision 1 If 
we believe in the religion, can we reasonably 
think this to be the case 1 Why is he called up- 
on to receive that which he has no means of 
knowing to be true? He has Moses and the pro- 
phets in his hands, but why should he hearken to 
their teaching, since it is thus impossible that he 
should " know of their doctrine whether it be of 
God?" 

It is true that a statement of the historical and 
prophetic proof may be, and often has been, pre- 
sented to the unlearned, in clear and succinct 
summaries : such as that beautiful model of lucki 
and powerful popular argument in the little tract 
of Leslie, which has been mentioned in a former 
Essay. But how does the illiterate Christian 
judge whether the facts upon which these argu- 
ments are founded are true ? How does he know 



59 



whether the books so cited are not forged or fal- 
sified 1 Should a sceptic, of his own attainments, 
(such as who that has been an attentive observer 
of society, either here or in Great Britain, has 
not often seen 1) armed with some few T of the trite, 
common-place objections and difficulties which 
have been hundreds of times repeated, and almost 
as often refuted, talk to him of priestcraft, and 
forgery, and fraud, whither is his mind to turn for 
satisfaction, if he has no other substantial ground 
of reason to rest upon? It requires, to be sure, no 
great share of knowledge to understand the 
whole chain of external testimony ; and without 
any portion of what is called scholarship, persons 
of both sexes of that rank of general acquirement 
and cultivation very common in our age and 
nation, may feel the whole force of Paley's or 
Chalmers' historical arguments, and comprehend 
the full weight of the several authorities, and 
hardly want a prompter to detect the futility of 
the sneers, doubts, and objections of Voltaire or 
Paine. But I am not speaking of such persons. 
I speak of the thousands and hundreds of thou- 
sands of people in the past, the present, and pro- 
bably in many future generations, for whose in- 
struction this revelation was intended, to whose 
acceptance it is presented, and by whom it is or 
will be accepted and held honestly, firmly, and 
wisely ; but to whom it is idle to talk of fathers, 



60 



and ancient classics, of historical proof, of the 
evidence of quotations, manuscripts, and transla- 
tions. To one of this class, all this is in an un- 
known tongue, and by far the greater part of the 
historical testimony is as a sealed book. 

Yet we know full well that amongst those 
whom learned arrogance looks down upon as the 
illiterate, there is always a multitude of sound 
and active understandings, who reason fairly and 
justly upon all matters within the range of their 
examination— who decide wisely upon points in 
which they cannot argue fluently ; and that 
among these persons are to be found very many 
who are deeply impressed with what they believe 
to be a rational conviction of the primary truths 
of their religion. 

The sceptic will indeed tell us, that the unedu- 
cated professor of Christianity believes in it, sim- 
ply because it is the religion of his country, of his 
neighbourhood, or of his forefathers ; precisely for 
the same reason that he would have been a Mus- 
sulman, had he been born upon the banks of the 
Euphrates, or an idolatrous worshipper of Seeva 
and Vishnoo, if he lived on those of the Ganges,* 

* Voltaire, who, in the most brilliant and excursive flights of his fancy 
or wit, never loses sight of his great object, has adroitly insinuated this 
objection in a passage of splendid declamation in his Zaire, familiar to 
all who are conversant with French literature — 

■ -Les soins qu'on prend de notre enfance 
Torment nos sentimens, nos mceurs, notre creance; 
J'eusse ete pres du Gange, esclave de faux dieux, 
Chretienne dans Paris, Mussulmane dans ces lieux. 



61 



Bo far as relates purely to the uninquiring and 
inoperative assent to, and the nominal or merely 
external profession of, any system of worship 
which may be supported or recommended by 
early education and habit, or by interest, or public 
opinion, or state policy, this is perfectly true. It 
may be true, too, to a certain extent, with regard 
to the particular forms of worship, and those 
speculative opinions connected with the distinc- 
tions of particular sects, respecting which the 
illiterate may have too little leisure or knowledge 
for due investigation. But it is not so as re- 
pects that belief which is an efficient principle of 
action, which, so far from being the result of 
habit and prejudice, is that to which favourite 
habits are reluctantly sacrificed, for which che- 
rished indulgences are relinquished ; which finds, 
in the habits of individuals and the opinions of 
society, many more obstacles to overcome than 
allies to aid its influence. So far is this from be- 
ing the effect of education or authority, that it 
springs up oftenest at those times when autho- 
rity, interest, and opinion have the least hold upon 
the mind ; it comes in the time of danger or sorrow, 
on the bed of sickness or death; when the mind 
is forced in upon itself; when the illusions and 
the sway of the world fade away ; when men are 
instructed in the most useful wisdom by the ex- 
perience of their own lives, and the unavoida- 
ble sense of their own infirmities. 



62 



In the order of Providence, it is certain that 
the lights of religion, like all other means of 
intellectual or moral improvement, are distribu- 
ted variously in different parts of the world. 
But though the access to the knowledge of Chris- 
tianity may be owing to some single circum- 
stance of birth, or residence, or education, such 
belief in it never is, and cannot be, the effect 
of those causes alone. In the use, or abuse, 
or neglect of this, as well as in those of the 
other advantages which the state of civilization 
and .knowledge in the society in which he moves, 
presents to man, he is not a mechanical agent y 
necessarily formed by those about him to their 
likeness ; he has faculties which, without certain 
opportunities of exercise, would have been dor- 
mant, but for whose right employment he now 
becomes accountable. 

From all these considerations, it therefore ap- 
pears to me to be not less the sound conclusion 
of reason, than it is the doctrine of revelation it- 
self, that the leading and practical truths of re- 
ligion are made manifest by their own light, and 
present themselves to be judged by their own 
evidence. 

Like all important truths, not directly cogniza- 
ble by means of the senses, they must and do re- 
quire patient attention; and, like other truths 
having a moral and practical tendency, they may 
be shut out from our minds by pride, evil passions 



63 

and prejudices; and their reception or rejection 
will of consequence depend much upon moral 
causes, external to the mere exercise of the rea- 
soning power : since there is no better ascer- 
tained law of our nature, than that in moral in- 
quiries, whether relating to action or opinion, the 
tendencies of a stubborn will necessarily have a 
strong control over the decisions of the under- 
standing. 

Let us then for a moment, assuming the Chris- 
tian religion to be from heaven, inquire how in 
fact it does address itself to man. 

It unfolds to him his own character and situa- 
tion ; his duties, and the means of discharging 
them ; the moral diseases under which he labours, 
and the remedies he needs. It unveils to him 
the overpowering certainty of immortality— a 
truth consonant with the insiinctive and univer- 
sal expectations of all men in all ages ; familiar 
to every mind— and though overshadowed with 
fears and doubts, yet every where and at all 
times wished for, hoped for, and believed. It 
presents to him a high and beautiful, an unos- 
tentatious and pure morality, ta tight in weighty 
and impressive aphorisms, or in natural and 
touching similitudes, or embodied in the most 
engaging forms of action and character. At the 
same time that it thus rouses him to the contem- 
plation of the possible excellences of his own 



04 

nature, it turns his reflections back upon himself, 
and on the survey of his own life and thoughts ; 
shows him his unworthiness, and teaches him at 
once the lesson of penitence and of humility. 
After convincing him of his guilt, it speaks to 
him of pardon, but a pardon so granted as to 
carry within it a lively evidence that his Maker 
looks not with indifference upon his vices, but 
that it requires an exertion of active beneficence 
to render mercy consistent with justice. It offers 
him pardon on the condition of belief in the volun- 
tary sufferings of a Mediator ; a fact which he can- 
not thoroughly believe in as the meritorious ground 
of acceptance, without a deep sense of guilt and 
unworthiness; and which, if he does seriously and 
earnestly believe, cannot but become in him a 
perpetual and living spring of gratitude and devo- 
tion. It speaks to him of the nature and attributes 
of God ; and this not in the way of dry and di- 
dactic system, but as those attributes are actually 
exhibited in the manifestation of his power and 
goodness. Whilst it offers to man's consideration 
subjects to engage and employ the noblest powers 
of his reason, it addresses him also as a being 
largely endowed with sentiments and affections; 
and it calls upon the warm sensibilities and strong 
emotions of his breast, moving him in turns by 
each and every natural motive of interest, duty, 
and feeling, to remorse, to fear, to repentance, to 
devotion, and to gratitude. 



65 



Surely there needs no laboured argument to 
prove that there are common principles of our 
nature, rational faculties and moral qualities, for 
which all this was intended and adapted, so that 
if the revelation be true, it will be seen and felt to 
be so, not indeed by every man, and fully and in 
all its parts, but still quite distinctly by all who 
give it the reception which it requires. 

If it be from God, it bears upon its face that it 
was made for man, since it treats concerning him, 
and is fitted for his needs and uses ; and it cannot 
be that man should have no witness in himself 
which he may question concerning its truth. 

If it promulgate doctrines mortifying to his 
pride, restrictive of his appetites, alien to the 
habits and pursuits which delight him, all this 
indeed affords strong reason that he should wish 
it to be false, but it does not at all prove it to be 
so. But if there be in its teachings clear and 
demonstrative contradictions to the first truths 
which every intellect acknowledges, if it enjoins 
or countenances immorality and vice, he may and 
he ought to pronounce it to be false. 

It is my wish in these pages to avoid as much 
as possible the touching upon those questions of 
doctrine upon which Christians have differed, or 
even upon those great truths upon which most of 
them have agreed, and which seem to me the most 
important and the most clearly taught, but which 

9 



66 



are not necessarily involved in the consideration of 
the moral or historical evidences of Christianity. 
But that the intention and bearing of this argument 
may not be misunderstood, it is proper to remark, 
that although it be a clear and pervading truth of 
Christianity, that to perceive and estimate its ex- 
cellence and truth, the understanding must be 
opened from above ; man's attention must be 
turned away from the earth-born cares which 
buzz around or glitter before him, and be forced 
inwardly upon his own breast, and his affections 
raised to higher objects ; yet, however that 
mental illumination may be given, it is still the 
reason which judges, and we are accountable 
for the right use of that gift. These things are, 
indeed, (as we are told,) spiritually, but still most 
of them are also intellectually discerned. The 
night passes away, and the sun of righteousness 
arises to pour a flood of light around, cheering and 
guiding the wandering pilgrim ; yet it is still the 
same eye, acting according to the same unchanged 
laws of vision which now discerns clearly what 
it before beheld, sometimes dim and obscure, 
and sometimes shaded and distorted into un- 
real and hideous shapes. The laws which go- 
vern the deductions of the mind are not altered, 
nor the intellectual powers changed, though the 
influence and control which his vices, habits, 
and desires had over them, have all passed away. 
But to return — 



67 



Thus, then, it is that the most unlettered Chris- 
tian may, independently of all external evidence, 
found his faith upon proofs, never, it may be, form- 
ally brought out in words, and seldom taking in 
his mind the logical form of argument, or which 
he is able to unfold with precision to others, but 
still, upon most strictly rational proofs, drawn 
from his direct perceptions of the conformity of 
the doctrines which he believes, to his own indi- 
vidual nature and reason, his duties, his weakness, 
his vices, and his instinctive and irrepressible hopes 
and fears ; of the agreement of the precepts and ex- 
amples of revelation to whatever his understanding 
can conceive to be "true, honest, just, lovely, 
and of good report" — from the untaught and 
unuttered testimony which the promptings of his 
own heart afford to the value of the assistance, 
the consolation, the pardon which it offers : from 
the congruity of what it teaches of his Maker's 
being and government with his own partial and 
dim, but not less irresistible convictions of infi- 
nity, eternity, omnipotence — of immutable jus- 
tice, goodness, and wisdom : convictions to which 
it is probable that no effort of his reason could 
have ever led him, but which, when once pre- 
sented to the intellect, and considered without 
self-willed opposition, are immediately felt and 
acknowledged. Knowing and feeling all this, he 
rejoices to find that which was the dark surmise, 



68 



and the anxious wish of his heart, declared by 
revelation, and confirmed by his reason. 

All these views are so congruous to our nature, 
as rational and moral beings, that I cannot doubt 
that they do constantly present themselves se- 
cretly and silently to the thoughts of thousands of 
Christians wholly unaccustomed to general spe- 
culation, and completely unable to communicate 
the grounds of their own belief to other minds. 
Thus is afforded an internal evidence of truth 
addressed to all who can think or feel ; which 
requires no previous knowledge but the know- 
ledge of their own hearts, and which the arts and 
doubts of scepticism cannot shake, because they 
can never reach it. 

Literary men, conversant with the difficulties, 
the refined logic, and the clashing theories of 
moral science, as well as speculative theologi- 
ans versed in the metaphysical subtleties of con- 
troversial divinity, looking back with complacent 
pride upon their own laborious studies, the long 
and patient attention which it has cost them to 
attain to any definite conclusions, and the per- 
plexing doubts which still embarrass every part of 
their science, after employing and exhausting 
the genius of the most acute and profound inqui- 
ries from Aristotle to Jonathan Edwards ; whilst 
they will most readily allow the moral sensibility 
of uneducated men to the powers of religious im- 



69 



pression, are slow to admit that vulgar minds 
and undisciplined intellects can gain any really 
rational perception of truths, connected with 
and involving such grand and high contempla- 
tions. They overlook the marked distinction 
between the nice analysis of principles, the ac- 
curate statement of definitions, the logical infer- 
ences from them, the daring solution of difficul- 
ties in the government of the world, and the 
structure of our own thoughts ; in short, between 
all that constitutes the theory of metaphysical 
science, and these mysterious but certain first 
truths and rational instincts which are implanted 
in the breasts of all men, and which prepare 
them to confess the power of a Creator, to appre- 
hend his perfections, and to know the obligation 
of his laws. The one is indeed an elevating 
employment of the intellect, but in its results 
how often vain and false — always how cold and 
inoperative ! The others are in fact the germs 
and seeds of all intellectual and moral know- 
ledge, and they are not the less efficient because 
they are not embodied in words, nor sorted and 
fashioned into systems. If philosophers will not 
confess them to be of reason, they must then be 
considered as something nobler and more divine 
than reason itself. They may lie dormant, in the 
darkness of ignorance, or the corruption of gross 
vice ; but, when the occasion which is to call them 



70 



into energy arrives, they develop themselves, 
we know not how : heaven's beams shine upon 
them, and they burst into life and power. 

How or why this is so, we cannot say ; but so 
we know it to be. It is so with relation to the 
obligation of those social duties which require con- 
stantly to be proposed and enforced, but never 
to be proved ; so it is with reference to our per- 
sonal rights, and those fundamental rules of jus- 
tice which may be violated, but can never be re- 
pealed by senates or nations, which need neither 
expounders nor commentators, which are the same 
at Rome and at Athens, in past and in future 
ages, which are universal and immortal, and ac- 
knowledge but one lawgiver, even the God of 
all men.* So, too, is it with reference to those 
yet higher duties, which involve or comprehend 
all others, and those noblest privileges of man, 
which admit him to the presence and the favour 
of his Maker. 

The study of mental philosophy is but the de- 
velopment of the common intuitions of reason 
and the arrangement of the observed laws of our 



* Huic legi nec abrogari fas est, neque derogari ex hac aliquod licet, 
aeque tota abrogari potest. Nec vero aut per senatum aut per populum 
solvi hac lege possumus. Neque est querendus explanator aut interpret 
ejus alius. Nec erit alia lex Romas, alia Athenis — alia nunc, alia post-hac ; 
sed et omnes gentes et omni tempore, una lex et sempitema, et immortalis 
continebit. Unusque erit communis quasi magister et imperator omnium , 
Deus. Cicero. 



71 



common nature ; and he to whom the philosophy 
of revelation is proposed, cannot need for its 
comprehension the previous discipline of Aris- 
totle or Locke. 

Nevertheless, in a general and speculative ex- 
amination of this question, we ought not wholly 
to pass over the purely metaphysical proofs which 
have been brought in corroboration of certain of 
the grandest truths of Christianity. These proofs 
are exceedingly limited in their use, and very 
subject to be abused to foster the pride of in- 
tellect, and to give the dress of profound science 
to the vain imaginations of a philosophy " falsely 
so called." 

If, however, leaving the firm, solid ground of 
humble faith, or of natural sentiment, common 
feelings and common sense, we ascend to those 
cloudy regions of lofty and cold speculation, 
into which philosophy has slowly toiled, in her 
aspirations to catch a nearer view of the eternal 
cause of all things, and the boundless founda- 
tions of his throne, it seems certain, that although 
the wise men of this world have for ages deluded 
themselves with a show of " vain wisdom and 
false philosophy," yet the cautious inquirer may, 
with Clarke, and Sir Isaac Newton, with Fen^lon, 
Price, and Butler, arrive at some safe conclu- 
sions concerning the necessary existence of an 
eternal and infinite mind, and the immutable at- 



72 



tributes of his being, and fixed laws of his go- 
vernment. These conclusions were probably 
originally suggested by revelation, yet they are 
supported by arguments and demonstrations of 
another kind, and in all of them he who has 
the power of fixing and continuing his attention, 
and the logical acuteness necessary for tracing 
the steps of a very refined and subtile investiga- 
tion, cannot but believe that he can discern the 
impression of eternal truth, although they be im- 
perfectly apprehended, and on every side bounded 
by clouds and thick darkness. 

These things, says Dr. Samuel Clarke, in his 
correspondence with Butler, speaking of one of 
the grandest and most demonstrative, and at the 
same time to my mind the most shadowy, and by 
far the least useful of all such speculations — the 
a priori argument for the necessary existence of 
one infinite and eternal being — " These things 
are indeed very difficult to express, and not easy 
to be conceived, but by very attentive minds ; but 
to such as can and will attend, nothing, can I 
think, be more demonstratively certain."* 

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that such 
remarks can have no application to those first 
and obvious truths, or instinctive principles of be- 
lief, (to which I have repeatedly referred,) and 



* Correspondence between Butler and Clarke. 



78 

the immediate inferences from them that form 
the foundation of all moral reasoning, and either 
spring up of themselves in every mind, or re- 
quire only to be stated to be received. They 
refer altogether to those subtile and abstract 
chains of reasoning by which speculative men, 
in all ages, aspiring to rival the long continuity 
of deduction which prevails in mathematical de- 
monstration, have undertaken to argue out the 
great conclusions of religious and ethical truth, by 
the aid of the logical faculty alone, without re- 
course to the observed facts of human nature, or to 
external proof or instruction. 

Thus it is that speculative and ingenious au- 
thors* have laboured to prove, from the first prin- 
ciples and data afforded by reason alone, (and 
often not unsuccessfully as to the logical ac- 
curacy of the argument, though generally, 
with the smallest possible power of impres- 
sion for any purpose of conviction or of popular 
instruction,) the self-existence of an eternal Crea- 
tor of all things ; his unity, his infinity and neces- 
sary omnipotence ; his perfection of wisdom and 
all excellence, truth, and justice ; the unchange- 



* Descartes, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Clarke, Bentley, Dr. Price, Dod- 
dridge, Fenelon, and many more names, illustrious alike for their virtues 
and their talents, might be enumerated as having taken the u high a priori 
road," at which wits and satirists have sneered, but which I cannot think 
erroneous, though I am convinced it is of little utility. 

10 



74 



able character of right and wrong resulting from 
his nature ; the immortality and presumptive im- 
materiality of the soul * the accountability and 
future judgment of man, and the moral govern- 
ment of the universe, administered by rewards 
and punishments. 

Surely the faint glimpses which reason thus 
gains of the highest wisdom, cannot be in contra- 
diction to the better defined and nearer views of 
true revelation. Sound philosophy must agree with, 
and in some manner tend to confirm, all true reli- 
gion ; and this agreement is again another and 
distinct species of internal evidence, of an un- 
substantial and speculative kind, it is true, and it 
is equally certain, by no means extensive or effi- 
cacious in its influence, but yet not to be over- 
looked or rejected in any enlarged consideration 
of the subject. 

Whether, therefore, we limit our considera- 
tion to the purely speculative inquiry, or, guid- 
ed by a wiser and more useful philosophy, in- 
vestigate the practical operation of revelation 
in the manner in which it may, and does, com- 
mend itself to the consciences and obedience of 
by far the greatest number of those who embrace 
it, it is quite evident, that the conclusions of those 
who absolutely deny the power of reason to judge 
in any degree of the truth and worth of a revela- 
tion, from the character of its doctrines and pre- 



75 



cepts, is rather the opposite of a dangerous error, 
than the sober truth itself. 

So far is the extrinsic proof of the verity of any 
religious instruction (no matter how plain or im- 
mediate such proof may be) from excluding all 
consideration of its moral evidence, that it is in 
fact alike the first and warmest impulse of a de- 
vout heart, and the most natural tendency of a 
thinking mind, to examine, and study the truth so 
communicated, applying to this study all its powers 
of intellect and resources of knowledge ; and this, 
most certainly, not as a judge, arrogating to de- 
cide upon the wisdom of God ; but as an intel- 
ligent disciple, eager- to understand the revelation, 
and confident of being able to find in it abun- 
dant matter for admiration and reverence. 

Let us in imagination transport ourselves back 
to the times of the apostles, and place ourselves in 
the situation of the primitive Christians : suppose, 
for instance, of an intelligent Thessalonian or 
Colossian, to whom the preaching of Paul had 
been visibly confirmed, by undeniable miracles 
wrought before his eyes. On this ground he be- 
lieves the religion which Paul teaches him to be 
true. But is that all? Would he who received it 
sincerely and fervently at that period, any more 
than at the present, limit his consideration to 
that single point, and be content to regard his 
religion merely as the certain but arbitrary will 
of an all-powerful being, whom he worships 



76 



solely as an omnipotent ruler I Would he not, 
on the contrary, examine and search into it in all 
its bearings, confidently trusting that he would 
find it, at least in some degree, and in confessed- 
ly imperfect apprehensions of its whole nature 
and objects, to show forth the wisdom and 
goodness of its author'? 

Now, if we hold that the human mind is neces- 
sarily incapable of forming any right judgment 
of the credibility of divine truth, prior to being 
convinced of its authenticity from some extrinsic 
source, and this, not because bad propensities 
and ungovernable passions cloud its view and turn 
away its attention, but solely because reason 
has in itself no possible capacity of judging upon 
such subjects ; then it seems to follow, upon the 
same principles, that after being put in possession 
of the proper external proof, that that circum- 
stance alone would be of little effect in throwing 
light upon the real character of the dispensation. 
But the fact is not so. 

In the application of his reason to the exami- 
nation of his religious duties and opinions, man 
finds no exemption from the universal law of his 
condition. He is still conscious that he is 

Placed on the isthmus of a middle state, 
A being darkly wise and feebly great.* 

He is very ignorant, and on many subjects 



* A being darkly wise and rudely great. Pope. 



77 



he must be content to remain so. This ignorance 
should teach him humility. It should guard him 
from the folly of questioning the truth which 
comes to him with its proper proof, or from re- 
ceiving in form the teachings of his Creator, and 
refining away their substance. Yet his ignorance 
is not total. 

By the light of his own mind he can discern 
the forms of things present to it, placed with- 
in the range of its action or contemplation, and 
designed for its improvement. By that light 
alone he can often recognize the seal of their di- 
vine author's power and benevolence stamped 
upon them ; but this light sheds its rays over but 
a narrow sphere, and cannot penetrate the thick 
darkness which enshrouds the future, the remote, 
the inaccessible, and the infinite. 

As if to restrain his presumption, and to mortify 
his pride, an impenetrable cloud of darkness sur- 
rounds him on every side, and partially hides from 
his eager curiosity the things which are apparent- 
ly most near and present, even himself and his own 
nature, and the material objects subject to his con- 
trol. As if to elevate his conceptions and to fill his 
soul with the sense of his capacity for greater ex- 
cellence, he has powers of observation, and know- 
ledge, and reason, which neither time nor space can 
circumscribe, which can carry his mind far beyond 
the limits of his own little world, and instruct him 



78 



in the grandest and most universal laws of the cre- 
ation, and finally lead him to the throne of God, 
there unveiling to him some faint but sure glimp- 
ses of the divine character and greatness. He has 
faculties bestowed upon him not unworthy of an 
immortal being. These do not, indeed, enable him 
to discover what the will and government of his 
Maker must be or ought to be ; but by them, if 
exercised in candour and humility, whatever his 
share of learning or talent may be, he may at- 
tain to know whether the revelation be true— 
" if the doctrine be of heaven or of man." In 
this momentous employment of his faculties, he 
is not obliged to confine his search to the evi- 
dence contained in the records of history, and 
the books of human authors ; for he can appeal also 
to the indelible laws of right reason, and to the 
living volumes of his own memory and heart* 



ESSAY III. 



The probable Characteristics of Truth in the Doctrines, 
Precepts, and Moral Influence of any Religion. 

In one of the most celebrated dialogues of Pla- 
to,* Socrates is represented as meeting his favour- 
ite pupil Alcibiades, at the porch of a temple, 
where he is about to offer a sacrifice. The arro- 
gant and aspiring young Athenian is wrapt in 
deep thought ; his mind is filled with the wild- 
est dreams of military and political ambition* 
not unmixed with nobler sentiments, and lofty 
meditations. In a short interrogatory conversa- 
tion, conducted after his accustomed manner of 
guiding and exciting the minds of his disciples to 
develop their own conclusions for themselves, 
by following out the natural deductions of com- 
mon sense, from familiar and generally acknow- 
ledged principles or facts, Socrates soon con- 
vinces his pupil of the vanity and inconsistency 
of his desires, and shows him that he does not 
know how to worship or to pray aright, nor to ask 
of heaven such things as are truly useful for him ; 



* Plato in Alcibiade II, See note D. 



80 



that if he should obtain the objects of his vows, 
they might perhaps be granted to him more in 
anger than in favour ; and that even science it- 
self, which seems to be the most unquestionable 
and unmixed good, will often prove an injury, 
rather than a blessing, if it do not also include 
the knowledge of the best and highest wisdom. 
Human sagacity, he intimates, can never dispel 
or penetrate this darkness ; and he that would be 
truly wise, must therefore wait patiently until 
some divine teacher should vouchsafe to become 
his instructor. When that time at length arri- 
ved, he would, like Diomede, in the epic fable, see 
the clouds which darkened his natural vision 
roll away from around him, and find himself ena- 
bled to discern and confess the power and pre- 
sence of the Divinity, and to perceive good and 
evil, as they are in themselves, and not as they 
appear in distorted forms and false colours 
through the misty illusions of life. 

This instruction of the great philosopher of 
common sense, was founded upon a clear and 
true perception of human ignorance and frailty ; 
— for we may justly look upon this as the phi- 
losophy of Socrates, although, in the writings of 
Plato, he is generally employed as a sort of dra- 
matic personage, to utter the opinions of his more 
eloquent and speculative disciple. 



81 



Let us now suppose that Alcibiades, not 
content, as Plato describes him to have been, to 
wait in eager but ignorant expectation of the 
coming of his future divine teacher, in the 
meanwhile presenting to his " guide, philo- 
sopher, and friend," the garlands which he had 
intended to have placed on the . altar of Jupiter 
or Mars, had gone further, and had made some 
such inquiries as these : " When this heavenly 
teacher, whose coming you have led me to expect, 
and of whose benevolent care you assure me, at 
length appears, of what character, think you, will 
his instructions be 1 Is it probable or not, argu- 
ing, so far as we may without rashness or presump- 
tion, upon such a subject, from experience or ana- 
logy, that this super-human teaching will be in 
entire contradiction to natural reason, or that it 
will be wholly and in all its parts beyond and 
above its examination ? Is it not probable, on the 
contrary, that like those grand truths concerning 
figure and numbers, which have been revealed to 
us by those who have made known to us the 
learning of the east, this doctrine, too, though be- 
yond our power to discover, will, when announced, 
approve itself at once, and almost intuitively, to 
the intellect ? At any rate, how think you shall 
we be enabled to judge of its truth, and of the au- 
thority to which it may be entitled ?" 

11 



82 



Such an inquiry would form the subject of a 
dialogue worthy to exercise the learned ingenuity 
of Barthelemy, or the philosophical eloquence 
and moral wisdom of Berkeley or Fenelon. 

I cannot attempt to fill up this outline. The 
answers which Socrates or Plato could have 
given to these inquiries, would, of necessity, have 
been most vague and unsatisfactory ; but using 
the lights which the moral history of man now 
affords us, and following the known laws of hu- 
man nature, and the ordinary observed course of 
the administration of the divine government, in 
whatever manner the argument might be conduct- 
ed, it could, I think, be naturally and reasonably 
brought to some such results as the following : 

I. Independently of all consideration of the 
peculiar character of the intrinsic signs of truth 
and authority which it might contain, a revelation 
designed for the instruction of mankind, or of 
any considerable portion of them, would, in all 
probability, be accompanied or supported by 
evidence of some kind or other, sufficient to es- 
tablish its veracity to the satisfaction of those who 
had competent opportunities for examining it and 
who were required to receive it; otherwise its uses 
and effect would be circumscribed to the compa- 
ratively few persons to whom it was immediately 
or originally communicated ; or else the submis- 
sion to its requisitions might be in no small de- 



83 



gree the effect of caprice, or of arbitrary choice? 
and not of enlightened preference. Even if this 
apparent difficulty was obviated, in some manner 
which our imperfect knowledge of the scheme of 
the divine government makes us unable to antici- 
pate, religion would yet seem to be in dan- 
ger of wanting authority to attract and command 
the attention of the careless, and to repel or re- 
press the doubts and oppositions of the wilfully 
perverse. 

Nevertheless, it does not necessarily follow 
from this consideration, that such proof or cor- 
roboration would be irresistible in its power of 
commanding attention and enforcing conviction 
upon any men, however enlightened or learned ; 
since we too well know, that the evidence and 
authority of the clearest and most indisputable 
points of moral duty, are by no means such as 
invincibly to compel assent, and still less to se- 
cure uniform and unvarying obedience. As, in 
the conduct of life, passion is often a successful 
rebel against reason and her laws, so reason, in her 
turn, might be unfaithful and dishonest to religion. 

It would, therefore, arguing from the analogy 
of the degree of evidence and authority given by 
our Creator to the plainest precepts of natural mo- 
rality, be no strong obj ection to the authority of any 
system of revelation, if its evidence, whether ex- 
ternal or internal, were not so strong as to make 



84 



rejection impossible. Though, on the other side, 
it is highly probable, for the same reasons, that it 
would have quite enough proof to satisfy those 
who are willing to acknowledge, and desirous to 
obey, the natural laws of morality. 

This is but a preparatory consideration, and 
rather obviates objections, and excites to inquiry 
and investigation, than furnishes positive proof, 
Let us go on to search for some decisive signs of 
probable internal evidence. 

II. A revelation made to a being of very limi- 
ted mental powers, and those powers developed 
and instructed by so brief and narrow an experi- 
ence as ours, would, of course, contain many 
truths far beyond what his own intellect could it- 
self reason out by deduction, or discover by obser- 
vation or experience ; many things, too, in direct 
contradiction to some of the inferences which 
he had plausibly and naturally, but erroneously, 
drawn from his imperfect knowledge and partial 
observations ; but it assuredly would not contra- 
dict—on the contrary, it must inevitably harmon- 
ize with those most sure first principles of truth, 
and those direct and immediate conclusions from 
them which man knows intuitively, or can as- 
certain with certainty. When candidly examin- 
ed and compared with what is previously known 
of our race and our nature, or with what, if never 
before observed, is yet within the power of our 



85 



observation, when the attention is earnestly di- 
rected towards it, so far as man could judge of or 
comprehend it at all, (for there might well be 
some parts of it altogether beyond his power of 
forming any judgment whatever concerning 
them,) it would unquestionably be found to be 
true, just, right, fitting, and useful. It might 
teach many things which reason could never 
have made known to us, but which, when once 
seen, would be acknowledged; others, which 
reason would not have anticipated as proba- 
ble; some things, doubtless, the fact of whose 
existence is sufficiently comprehensible, but the 
manner wholly incomprehensible ; but surely no- 
thing which reason could distinctly perceive to 
be plainly impossible. It might also, not impro- 
bably, contain some truths either previously dis- 
covered, or discoverable, by the exercise of our 
ordinary faculties, but those enforced by more 
weighty considerations, and placed in new and 
unexpected, but still natural and probable rela- 
tions. 

Such, for instance, among many others, are the 
commonly acknowledged moral duties of justice, 
fidelity, and veracity, which Revelation has 
strengthened by higher sanctions and new mo- 
tives ; by more distinct views of futurity, and a 
deeper sense of obligation ; by all the considera- 
tions that can give intensity to penitence and shame, 



86 



and kindie higher aspirations after holiness — 
which it has also placed in new relations ; so that, 
while they serve as rules for the conduct of life, 
and show us what we ought to be, they bid us 
also think of what we are, impress on us the sense 
of our need of mercy for the past, and of aid and 
assistance for the future, and make the gratitude 
of those who receive these favours the efficient 
sources of truer and purer virtues. 

The conclusions just stated seem to be fairly 
deducible from the very idea of a revelation made 
to such a mixed being as man by his all-wise and 
infinite Maker. 

If, dropping for a moment the consideration of 
a revelation involving social or religious duties* 
we should imagine that, for some wise and bene- 
ficent purpose, the Supreme had deigned to un- 
fold to the greatest of natural and mathematical 
philosophers whom the world has yet beheld* 
those laws of his material creation which are far 
beyond the grasp of human observation ; is it 
not reasonable to think — indeed, can we at all 
doubt — that in the boundless range of creation 
thus laid open to the astonished contemplation 
of the sage, he would find, together with many 
new uses, connections and bearings of well- 
known laws, which he never could have imagined 
or conjectured, things innumerable, which hu- 
man science never would have pre-supposed or 



87 



excogitated from any received and established 
principle — yet such that, when he compared 
them with his former more limited knowledge, he 
would perceive at once to agree with what he be- 
fore knew of the fixed laws of that little part of 
creation with which he was acquainted, harmo- 
nizing in one grand whole, with all the unity of 
truth ; or that he would observe many laws, quali- 
ties and modes of existence, which, had they been 
proposed to him as mere conjectures of human 
sagacity, he would have rejected as false or im- 
probable 1 Surely, however, he would behold no- 
thing that could contradict those mathematical 
and necessa? y truths which man knows by a sort of 
natural and rational revelation, if he knows any 
thing with absolute certainty, to be the un- 
changeable laws of ail material being and action. 

It is on precisely the same principles, that he 
who examines the laws and doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, will find in what it teaches us concerning 
the unity, nature, spirituality, infinity, and eterni- 
ty of God, of his government by rewards and 
punishments, his wisdom and power, as well as in 
what we are there taught of man, his character, con- 
dition and duties, very much that no searching of 
the mind, no study of the heart, no logical subtilty 
ever could find out. Yet all this, when it is once 
clearly stated, is found to be so conformable to our 
perceptions, consciences, and experience, as to be 



88 



now theoretically received as undeniable by ma- 
ny who reject the revelation itself ; and in the 
very face of all historical testimony, as to the 
real progress of the human mind, in the know- 
ledge of ourselves and our duties, and our Ma- 
ker, to be claimed as forming an essential part of 
the common moral notions of all thinking men, 
by such writers as Lord Herbert of Cherbury, 
among the older, and Rousseau among those more 
recent sceptics, who, rejecting the facts, are yet 
anxious to retain the ethics and the sentiments of 
the gospel. 

This is peculiarly true as relates to the ethics 
of Chris tianty. Revelation showed us for the 
first time the nature and excellence of those gen- 
tle, pure and lowly virtues, and of that humble 
devotion* over whose beauty and obligation the 
pride or the fiercer passions of men had cast so 
thick a veil, that undirected reason could not, or 
would not, perceive them. But when these are 
authoritatively announced, when motives to them 
are offered, when they are embodied in lovely 
forms of action and character, gladdening socie- 
ty with their mild presence, lightening the calam- 
ities of life, and assuaging its sorrows — that 
same reason can never sufficiently admire them y 
and every heart pays the homage of undissem- 
bled and involuntary approbation. Heathen an- 
tiquity did not know them ; its genius and phi- 



89 



losophy could not discover them : but once seen, 
. their worth is acknowledged by the most igno- 
rant, and their beauty by the most vicious. 

It is, by the way, well worthy of remark, that 
the attempt to separate the morals of Christian- 
ity from its faith, has always carried with it its 
own practical refutation. That philosophical 
religion, which is without a creed and without 
worship, has resulted in a morality without mo- 
tive and without practice. 

Again: we know but very little of our own 
hearts. In the whole maze of our mysterious exis- 
tence, there is no greater problem to man than his 
own character ; but his memory has registered his 
past feelings and thoughts, and he can discern his 
present propensities ; and when revelation speaks 
to him of himself, his reason may compare that 
teaching with the faithful records of his own 
breast, and authenticate it all. 

Upon other points of belief : such, to take a 
conspicuous example, as the great and funda- 
mental truth of an atonement for guilt, through 
the merits of a mediator, we find a revealed doc- 
trine, such as would confessedly not have been 
presumed or conjectured ; and it may even be, 
what, if stated nakedly and without application, 
connection, or other evidence, we might rightly 
look upon as very improbable ; but, yet, such as 
does in no wise contradict sound reason, or the 

12 



90 



analogy of* the known government of the physi- 
cal or of the moral world. It would be a superfluous 
labour to enter into the details of argument and 
doctrine, illustrating this beautiful harmony be- 
tween the Christian revelation and the revelation 
of nature ; and to demonstrate from it, that 
much of what at the first glance seems impro- 
bable, is by no means impossible, or without 
resemblance in other parts of God's govern- 
ment and works. All this has been most fully 
and satisfactorily done in the Analogy of Bishop 
Butler, a work which leaves nothing to be desir- 
ed on this subject, or on any other upon which it 
touches, however transiently, except that the ex- 
cellent author had combined a more perspicuous 
style, a more lucid arrangement, and a happier 
power of familiar example and illustration, with 
the spirit of meek philosophy, practical saga- 
city, profound and patient thought, and large 
observation which distinguish all his inquiries.* 

Every page of that profound and original ar- 
gument, presents some signal demonstration of 
that principle, which it has been endeavoured to 
state and develop in these Essays — the amazing 
strength, and the still more amazing weakness, 
of human reason ; showing how utterly feeble, 
how wildly absurd it is, when it endeavours to 



* See Note E. 



91 

penetrate, by its own sagacity alone, into the 
laws and designs of the Creator ; yet, how acute 
and how comprehensive that sagacity becomes, 
when it is limited to its proper office, the examin- 
ation and study of those laws to which the Cre- 
ator has himself invited our attention, by placing 
them within the sphere of our knowledge, and 
making an acquaintance with them necessary or 
conducive to our happiness or virtue. But to 
return to our subject: — 

Upon the whole, therefore, it would clearly af- 
ford a perfectly valid proof of the divinity of a reli- 
gion, if its doctrines, containing some instructions 
transcending our understanding, were yet never 
contrary to it, and were in many points strongly 
confirmed by its deductions ; and if, whilst this 
revelation laid open new truths, it moreover gave 
new authority and new uses to old ones, and en- 
abled those who were before in darkness, to 
compare this instruction with nature, with reason, 
and with themselves ; with their hearts, con- 
sciences and experience, and find them all to 
correspond. To pass on to another point: 

III. Such a communication from an all-wise 
and benevolent Ruler, to his dependant creatures^ 
would scarcely take place without some great 
and beneficent purpose in view. Coming from 
the highest wisdom, it would probably be for the 
highest possible good. But what can be a high- 



92 



er good to man than that of rendering him fit for 
the favours of his Maker, increasing his virtue, 
purifying his heart, and elevating him in the 
scale of moral, and consequently of intellectual 
beings ? 

Learned and speculative men have sometimes 
doubted how far morality could ever be the 
subject of discovery or revelation. They have 
gone over the various heads of Christian ethics, 
and have shown how consonant they all are to right 
reason ; how admirably conducive to the well-be- 
ing of society and the happiness of individuals ; 
how congenial to the universal moral sentiment 
of man, who can never refrain from involunta- 
rily giving some attestation to their excellence, 
though he may practically reject their authority ; 
how powerfully some of them have been enforced 
by the lessons and eloquence of ancient philoso- 
phers, and how the sentiments inspired by 
others have lent a vivid and lasting charm to 
those strains of classical poetry which awaken 
responsive sympathies in every breast, because 
they are felt to utter the unsophisticated and 
universal voice of nature. Thus they have la- 
boured, by eloquence and learning, to corroborate 
and establish the truth and value of this system 
of ethics. But since it is so far and so manifest- 
ly rational and natural, it has been plausibly ques- 
tioned, whether it can give any decided evidence 



93 



of the other truths with which it may be associa- 
ted ; whether it proves any more than that its first 
teachers were in this matter wise men, though 
in others they might have erred. Sceptics have 
insinuated the objection, and Christian advo- 
cates* have almost conceded it, and have regard- 
ed the purity, truth and excellence of the gospel 
morality, as proving but little more than the high 
and certain obligation of those rules themselves, 
and the great probity and matchless good sense 
of those by whom they were first promulgated. 
From this they justly infer the respect conse- 
quently due to the testimony of such men, when 
they declared that their knowledge was divinely 
communicated, and the great improbability that 
such a doctrine could have been otherwise form- 
ed by these illiterate men, or indeed by any per- 
sons whatever of their age and nation. 

This reasoning is so far sound and conclusive, 
yet it presents a most limited and imperfect con- 
sideration of these remarkable characteristics. 

Whether we consider moral objection as found- 
ed in the unchangeable and eternal character of 
the Deity, whose will is always guided by unerr- 
ing and unvariable wisdom, and look upon it in 
relation to ourselves, as springing immediately 
from the moral nature which he has given to us, 



* See note F. 



94 



and as having a character of essential truth, more 
or less clearly perceptible to reason ; or if we look 
solely to that test of utility, which some popular 
moralists have wished to establish as the very es- 
sence of all virtue, and which is certainly a con- 
stant concomitant, and never failing mark and 
indication of it : we may satisfy ourselves, that 
Christian morality is at once agreeable to reason, 
and to all our moral perceptions and feelings, and 
at the same time is evidently beneficial in its ef- 
fects, and calculated to diffuse happiness around, 
and refresh and gladden the face of society. 
However, it is just as certain, that either as a 
whole, or in its great features, it never was rea- 
soned out by any effort of logical ingenuity, nor 
inferred from the widest observation of human 
life, by man unblessed by revelation. Parts of it 
have been familiar to all persons in all times ; more 
especially those principles which are absolutely 
essential to the existence and good order of socie- 
ty, and which find powerful auxiliaries in the do- 
mestic affections, or in the selfish prudence of men. 
But in all that forms the morality of devotion, in 
all that relates to our duties towards our Maker, 
philosophy made but little progress. In its clear- 
est and best conceptions of worship, it rose only 
to awe and veneration ; but the very notion of 
love to God, even in its most abstract and theo- 
retical sense, is peculiar to the Christian revela- 



95 



tion. So, too, is the consideration of meekness 
and humility, as being in any sense praiseworthy. 
All the heathen views of moral virtue, bright and 
luminous in some points, were in others imper- 
fect, partial, without distinctness, and above all, 
without impressiveness or authority. They op- 
posed feeble barriers indeed to the fierce activi- 
ty of the passions, and every thinking man was left 
at liberty to suit his ethical theory to his own 
habits or propensities. But the simple fact of 
thus bringing together our duties into one grand 
and harmonious system — (if, in truth, it be not 
likening it too much to the formal methodical la- 
bour of human art to speak of it as a system) — 
the resolving them into a few single rules of 
boundless application ; the giving to them a dig- 
nity, an impressiveness before unknown ; follow- 
ing them through all the mazes of deed, and word, 
and thought ; and breathing through all a spirit 
of purity and peace, seems to me to be a sufficient 
demonstration that this wisdom is from above. 

It is from our uniform experience of the undis- 
turbed order of nature, that we are able to ascer- 
tain the extraordinary interposition of its author. 
Long observation, for example, has taught us 
some of the powers of medicine, and the hidden 
virtues which lie " in herbs, plants, stones, and 
their true qualities." But this same experience 
which shows us that, the art of man can so often 



96 



combat successfully the fiercest attacks of dis- 
ease, assures us that it has no efficacy which can 
enable a man, like one of us, to remove blind- 
ness with a touch, or to raise the dead with a 
word. If we should be witnesses of such a fact, 
or it should be satisfactorily proved to us, it ne- 
cessarily follows that such an exertion of powers, 
so far transcending past experience, is a miracle, 
and proves the interference of the Deity himself. 
But the purity, the excellence, the perfection of 
this moral teaching, is of the nature of a moral 
miracle. During so many centuries, amongst so 
many millions of thinking and observing men, 
no such result was ever attained, or any thing 
approaching to it, or resembling it. Why is it 
not, then, a just inference to pronounce that man 
was unequal to the discovery ; and that it must 
have been vouchsafed from the Father of lights ? 

The statement of an analogical case, may per- 
haps serve to illustrate this proof. No man who 
has ever thought, no matter how cursorily, upon 
law or legislation, or attended to the obvious 
suggestions of his own mind in his ordinary af- 
fairs, can deny that there are certain primary 
principles of justice, which should regulate all 
dealings between man and man, and some cardi- 
nal points of natural policy, which are not found- 
ed in any accidental human institutions, but are 
beneficial to mankind, as social beings, under 
all circumstances. 



97 



These are those fixed principles of justice and 
good government, which, " nec erit alia lex 
Romas, alia Athenis," and are " law alike at Or- 
leans and at Westminster Hall."* But it is quite 
certain, that no system of jurisprudence which the 
world has yet seen, has recognized such princi- 
ples throughout, and such alone. Everywhere, 
even in the wisest and freest nations of the 
earth, have private cupidity, political ambition, 
ecclesiastical or professional superstition, preju- 
dices of education, old habits and personal inter- 
ests, combined to encumber the municipal law, in 
some way or other, with more or less of idle forms, 
unreal subtleties, unmeaning distinctions, impo- 
litic or unjust regulations, useless or oppressive 
restrictions on the freedom of commerce, of the 
press, of the person, or of conscience. Such is 
the lot of man ; so far as his own efforts can go, 
his liberty, his wisdom, his virtue, can be but 
comparative. 

In many countries, we know that such perver- 
sions and corruptions have almost frustrated the 
great ends of society ; and none can boast of a 
political, and still less of a legal system free from 
errors injurious to the community. No matter 

* Sir William Jones' Preface to his " Essay on the Law of Bailment." 
This is the eulogium which this great English lawyer gave to the works of 
Pothier, the luminary of French jurisprudence, and in expressing it, he 
has imitated the language, and borrowed the thought of Cicero. It is im- 
possible to compress more and higher authorities in fewer words. 

13 



93 



how much national pride may excuse or defend 
them — no matter how successfully the apologists 
of all existing institutions may varnish over the 
imperfections, the absurdities, or, it may be, the 
atrocities of that code, which it is their interest to 
support : such evils are everywhere found and 
everywhere felt. 

They frequently grow out of accidental or polit- 
ical institutions ; but whatever may be their imme- 
diate cause, |hey are to be traced finally to the 
necessary imperfections of human reason, and 
the deficiency of public virtue. 

If, then, a code were now to be presented to the 
world, claiming to have been prepared under the 
special guidance of heaven, which should embody 
all that was anywhere wise or excellent in human 
laws, should avoid all their imperfections, and 
should supply all their deficiencies ; w T hich was 
suited to every form of civil policy, and to all un- 
derstandings ; which never needed the help of judi- 
cial exposition or of legislation, to fill up or cor- 
rect its defects ; which was so far level to every 
man's comprehension as to direct him aright in all 
the multifarious concerns of life — let me ask, 
would such a claim to divine authority appear to 
be without foundation 1 Would it be wholly unrea- 
sonable to ascribe to super-human wisdom what 
human wisdom had so long, so often, and so 
vainly attempted 1 If this be at all or in any de- 



99 



gree whatever probable, in a system regulating 
the simple rights of property and personal liber- 
ty, how much more strongly will the argument 
apply to the divine origin of a body of moral 
instructions regulating all man's actions, his 
words, and thoughts, and desires, and reaching 
to his inmost soul ! The promulgation of such a 
moral law is worthy of the great Lawgiver, and 
attests his interposition. 

It will add not a little weight to this analogi- 
cal argument, if we consider that the analogy 
holds good in another and remarkable particu- 
lar. Moral impediments of the same nature* 
are the main obstacles to purity and perfec- 
tion, alike in civil legislation and in the laws 
which should govern the conscience and the 
heart. In the one case the interests, the ambi- 
tion, the unruly passions, and the base selfish- 
ness of mankind, combine with ignorance or in- 
dolence, to prevent equal and simple justice and 
political wisdom, from regulating the whole civit 
rule of life. In the other, that moral rule of life, 
which Christianity has laid before us, calls for 
such habitual and unqualified sacrifices of the 
selfish to the benevolent affections, imposes such 
restraints upon sensual appetites, and teaches 
truths so mortifying to the innate pride of the un- 
derstanding, that, allowing mankind to be intel- 
lectually capable (of w T hich there is, indeed, no. 



100 



sufficient proof) of discovering that system, nev- 
ertheless, we cannot believe that their wishes and 
inclinations would have allowed them to have 
formed such a moral theory. Men, as was quaint- 
ly but sagaciously remarked by some old writer, 
have not reason enough to use their reason. We 
all can, and habitually do, blind ourselves to the 
truth which is displeasing to us. Therefore it is 
that the ethics of merely human philosophy al- 
ways have been, and always will be in some de- 
gree formed to suit human passions and inclina- 
tions. If they impose some wise restraints up- 
on our appetites, they compensate us by indulging 
our pride ; if they bid us refrain from injuring our 
neighbours, they still tolerate, and perhaps incul- 
cate the idolatry of self-love and self-admiration. 

Since, therefore, the talent of mankind never 
did, in fact, invent or excogitate for itself a per- 
fect system of ethics, there is a high moral 
probability that it was not capable of doing it. 
Add to this the stronger moral probability, that if 
men could have done this, they would not ; and 
we must necessarily infer that such a morality 
must be divine. But if so, whilst it bears its own 
evidence upon its front, it also confirms the other 
doctrines of that revelation of which it forms a 
necessary and harmonious part. 

The morality of Christianity is not an insula- 
ted part of this dispensation, which might be 



lei 



transplanted into any other system of belief with 
equal efficacy. It is connected with, and entwin- 
ed in, all its essential doctrines. It is not given 
simply as a rule of life, but as a test of character ; 
teaching those who acknowledge it the secrets of 
their own hearts ; making them feel the chains 
which bind them to sin and misery, and bidding 
them to look for deliverance to an arm more 
powerful than their own ; while this same revela- 
tion, which detects the lurking diseases of human 
nature, prescribes and supplies the remedy. 

Thus, the moral tendency of a religion, if it be 
clear and decided, and still more, if it be also 
original, would constitute a palpable and promi- 
nent, and most convincing sign of its truth. 

IV. If, then, this revelation be designed to 
improve the character of man, and if it proceeds 
from an all-powerful author, it will not, it cannot 
fail of its effects. The result will be visible in 
the lives and character of those who receive it — 
perhaps in different degrees, and operating gra- 
dually ; perhaps differently in different individuals, 
ages, and nations, and of course according to the 
declarations or promises of the revelation itself. 
Not improbably, too, the perfection of this reli- 
gion might be at such an immeasurable height 
above the weakness of those who profess it, and 
allowing of such an indefinite if not infinite pro- 
gression in improvement, that a comparison of 



102 



its precepts with the practice of them would make 
its moral influence appear to an observer to be 
small indeed, until he turned to the contrast af- 
forded by the lives and dispositions of those who 
walked by the light of their own inventions, and 
not by that of heaven. 

In spite of all these defects or imperfections, 
this moral effect of divine revelation would doubt- 
less be perceptible in some such way as to be at 
once a consequence of the doctrine, and a testi- 
mony to it ; forming an indirect but highly pro- 
bable evidence to those who observe this in- 
fluence in others, but of the most positive and 
conclusive kind to those who experience it in 
themselves. To such, this evidence will grow 
more and more vivid and intense in the same 
degree as the religion incorporates itself .with 
their habitual thoughts, regulates their affections, 
and guides their lives. 

But if the evidence, the motives, and the in- 
fluences of this revelation, were not such as ir- 
resistibly and universally to extort and compel 
submission — if the will of man, his passions and 
innate propensities, as well as the higher parts 
of his nature, were left free to act in reference 
to its claims, it might then be passed by with 
disgust, or boldly rejected by very many. In 
this case it is every way likely, previously to any 
actual knowledge of the fact, that these persons 



103 



would show forth in their lives and dispositions, 
(not judged by the revealed doctrine, but by the 
rules of moral prudence and duty acknowledged 
by themselves, by the promptings of the moral 
sense, or by the effects of their actions on their 
own happiness and that of others) the predomi- 
nance of those motives and appetites which har- 
dened their hearts, and closed the eyes of their 
understanding against the offers and arguments 
of a religion inculcating and promising purity, 
holiness, and peace. 

We should, however, always recollect, that 
so strange, and, to us, so unaccountable are 
the operations of prejudice, the effects of in- 
voluntary ignorance, and the force of passions 
and misdirected affections ; so mixed is our 
whole nature, that it may often be impossible 
to apply this rule in relation to individuals, with- 
out hazarding the indulgence of a harsh and 
censorious spirit of judgment on private charac- 
ter. But the general aspect of society w T ill fur- 
nish evidence enough to show that in this man- 
ner the lives, tempers, and characters of the 
mass of those who freely embrace, or decidedly 
reject, a religion, will afford, if not unerring, yet 
certainly very strong indications of the so urce 
from whence it springs. 

V. There is certainly no just ground for infer- 
ring, d priori, that such a revelation would be 



104 



fitted for the use of all mankind, and not confin- 
ed to a particular people, or a narrow sect of 
learned philosophers. The mysterious fact, that 
the blessings of liberty, letters, science, and mo- 
rals have been distributed in such very unequal 
proportions among the numerous families and 
members of the human race, affords a pow- 
erful analogical argument against any such ex- 
pectation. But if a revelation, when actually 
made, did claim to be of universal use, and of 
eternal interest and duration ; if its first teach- 
ers and ^arly disciples were commanded to go 
abroad and instruct all the world in a religion 
which was to endure until the end of time ; 
then it seems clear that that religion would not 
be necessarily connected with any local cause or 
temporary state of society and far less with any 
positive human institution, civil or political. 

A religion, thus independent of external cir- 
cumstances, would accordingly be able to exert 
an efficacy in all climes, and in every stage of 
civilization. It could exist alike in the rudest 
and in the most cultivated states, from pastoral 
simplicity to the most artificial and complicated 
forms of refined and polished life. 

This indication of truth has a two-fold aspect. 
It may be tried by an enlarged and philosophical 
observation of man, as he exists in various stages 
of, refinement, and under contrary forms of go- 



105 



vernment and civil order, and there tracing the 
influence which religion has been found to pos- 
sess over his actions and character. So far this 
inquiry is fitted only for well-informed and curi- 
ous minds* 

But it has also a direct and personal applica- 
tion. Every one who is awakened to a sense of 
his real wants, and becomes wearied with the 
burden of his own vices, may judge for and 
from himself, whether or no this religion, which 
freely invites the acceptance of all, and which he 
sees professed and obeyed by so many persons 
of various stations and dispositions, be not also 
fitted for himself ; as if the peculiarities of his 
individual situation and character, his own pri- 
vate errors, sufferings, or crimes, had been fore- 
seen and provided for by its benevolent and om- 
niscient Author. In this manner it was that the 
religion of Palestine has commended itself to 
the affections and consciences of the inhabitants 
of Greenland and Caffraria. Thus, too, the doc- 
trines originally proclaimed to the poor and illite- 
rate, by men unskilled in all human science, have 
subdued the will and enlightened the understand- 
ings of such men as Newton, Pascal, and Hale. 

I am indebted, for the suggestion of this pecu- 
liar and very interesting view of the universal 
nature of the Christian dispensation, to an elo- 
quent and original passage in the admirable 

14 



106 

thidleian Lecture of Dr. Channing, of Boston, 
which it would be doing an injustice to this head 
of the argument not to quote. It does not com- 
prise the whole range of this striking principle's 
operation ; but it is impossible to paint more 
powerfully, or more beautifully, the adaptation of 
Christianity to those habits and sentiments which 
spring up in the advancement of knowledge and 
refinement, and seem destined to continue for 
ages, as they have done for the last three cen- 
turies, to spread themselves more and more wide- 
ly over the human race. 

" I will make," says he, " one remark on this 
" religion, which strikes my own mind very for- 
" cibly. Since its introduction, human nature 
" has made great progress, and society experi- 
" enced great changes ; and, in the advanced 
" condition of the world, Christianity, instead of 
" losing its application and importance, is found 
" to be more and more congenial and adapted 
" to man's nature and wants. Men have out- 
" grown the other institutions of that period 
" when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its 
u modes of warfare, its policy, its public and pri- 
" vate economy ; but Christianity has never 
" shrunk as intellect has opened ; but has al- 
u ways kept in advance of man's faculties, and 
" unfolded nobler views in proportion as they 
" have ascended. The highest powers and 
" affections which our nature has developed find 



107 



"more titan adequate objects in this religion 
" Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted for the 
" more improved stages of society, to the more 
" delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and es- 
% pecially to that dissatisfaction of the present 
" state which always grows with the growth of our 
66 moral powers and affections. As men advance 
ei in civilization they become susceptible of men- 
" tal suffering to which ruder ages are strangers; 
" and these, Christianity is fitted to assuage. Im- 
" agination and intellect become more restless ; 
" and Christianity brings them tranquillity, by the 
" eternal and magnificent truths, the solemn and 
"unbounded prospects, which. it. unfolds.. This 
" fitness of our religion to more advanced stages 
" of society than that in which it was introduced, 
" to wants of human nature, not then developed, 
" seems to me very striking. The religion bears 
"the marks of having come from a Being who 
" perfectly understood the human mind, and had 
"power to provide for its progress. Tin's fea- 
" hire of Christianity is of the nature of prophe- 
" cy. It is an anticipation of future and distant 
" ages ; and when we consider among whom our 
" religion sprung up, where but in God can we 
" find an explanation of this peculiarity '!"* 



* "Discourse on the Evidences of Revealed Religion ; delivered before the 
University of Cambridge, (Massachusetts.) at the Dudleian Lecture, by 
William C. Channing, Boston. 1821 " This tract contains, among many 



108 



The several heads which have been succes- 
sively touched upon, furnish us a very brief and 
imperfect sketch of some portion of the evidence 
resulting from the reasonableness, the tendency, 
and the efficient moral power of revelation. May 
not the manner in which it is presented, and the 
motives by which it is enforced and recommend- 
ed, add some additional weight to this evidence t 

VI. In corroboration of the foregoing marks of 
authenticity, it seems proper to add, that it would 
be natural and reasonable to think, that such a 
dispensation as has been described, coming from 
him who perfectly knows what is in man, and 
how he is to be swayed, would not be addressed 
solely to his intellect ; but that while its purity 
and excellence would call forth his admiration 
and reverence, it would, by its personal applica- 
tion, and by the manner in which it enforces its 
claims, by the motives which it propounds, and 
the examples which it sets forth, come home to 
the inmost breasts of individuals, and would act 
through the affections as well as upon them ; pu- 

other views of great value, a most perspicuous and philosophical statemen t 
of the true principles upon which our belief in human testimony is regu- 
lated. It is no mean praise to any reasoner, to be able to throw new light 
upon a subject which has employed the minds of Hume, Campbell, Reid, 
and Price. Out of his own city, Dr. Channing is chiefly known as a con- 
troversial writer. His peculiar opinions are not mine ; but I could 
not pass by this opportunity of calling the public attention to a work 
which does equal honour to. the literature and the philosophy of owr 
country. 



109 



rifying and regulating the passions, by the opera- 
tion of the passions themselves ; calling not upon 
self-love, or upon the sense of duty alone, but 
kindling in the heart, shame or sorrow, gratitude, 
zea], and love. 

The beams which flowfrom the great Source of 
all mental illumination, might be expected to have 
heat as well as light. They would warm as well as 
illuminate. As, in all the great concerns of life, 
man is most efficiently moved by those motives 
which rouse, animate, and excite him, or which 
alarm his fears, or touch his feelings ; as he is 
so constituted that eloquence and poetry must 
have always greater sway over him than calm 
logic, so it would seem probable (for this is not 
proposed as a direct and certain proof) that a 
religion which delivered to him so momentous a 
message, which was to wake him from the sleep 
of death, and raise him to new life, would come 
clothed with power over his hopes, and fears, and 
passions. He is guilty, and his conscience may 
be alarmed. Though immersed in the low cares 
of a moment, he is capable of large discourse, 
looking before and after, and he may be made to 
tremble or to exult at the prospect of the future. 
In the retrospection of the past he may find cause 
for bitter regret, or for gratitude. Above all, he 
is encompassed with sorrows, and he may be 
soothed or consoled; he may be purified and 



110 



humbled, and made wiser and better by afflic- 
tions. A religion that so governed its disciples 
must be one of truth and power. 

I do not wish to be understood as maintaining, 
nor do I in fact believe, that each of these several 
internal marks of veracity and authority, could 
have been actually established from reasoning, 
previous to any experience, by the most enlight- 
ened and persevering inquirers of antiquity. 

They are stated simply as propositions, which 
are, in fact, derived from the knowledge of Chris- 
tianity, and which, in all ordinary human probabi- 
lity, would never have been known without it, 
yet, like much other moral wisdom to which the 
same light has guided us, they are in the highest 
degree probable, on principles of pure reason ; 
and such as Socrates or Plato would have assent- 
ed to, had they been proposed to them without 
reference to their bearing upon any particular 
system of faith or ethics. 

True philosophy could not but acknowledge 
that that religion must be divine whose doctrines, 
while they were beyond human discovery, are 
also consonant to reason ; whose morals are of 
surpassing excellence, and yet original in their 
perfection, in their application, and their con- 
sistency ; whose moral efficacy over its real dis- 
ciples is energetic and unparalleled ; whose pure 
ethics, and whose wonderful doctrines, are so in- 



Ill 



terwoven that those who spurn at the one will 
reject the other; which is fitted for men of all de- 
grees, giving wisdom to the foolish and sight to 
the blind, and which acts not alone by instructing 
the understanding, but by filling the heart. 

To the truth of such a religion a genuine phi- 
losophy must assent, and could Christianity be 
received as a speculative theory, without fur- 
ther claims upon us, it would always extort the 
assent of thinking men. But the wise of this 
world have, like others, their passions, appetites, 
and prejudices; and they have, more than others, 
their pride of opinion, and their love of distinc- 
tion : the light of truth too often becomes pain- 
ful to their senses, and they can shut the eyes of 
their understanding against its beams. 

We may safely apply these rules of judgment 
to all that pretends to be divine revelation, or su- 
pernatural history, in classical or in oriental my- 
thology, or in the Mahometan creed. I say to 
all that pretends to be revelation, since there is, 
in most false religions, some admixture of natu- 
ral morality, or of traditional truth, which is ra- 
ther debased and polluted, than strengthened by 
the doctrinal and positive religious creed. 

What is there in any of them not previously 
discoverable, and in fact, long before actually dis- 
covered by reason, which is yet at once acknow- 
ledged as true when proposed, and as excellent in 



112 



itself? Examine even the simplest, wisest, and 
purest of them all, the religion of Mahomet, by the 
test — I will not say of Christian ethics, but, of 
an enlightened heathen philosophy ; and in the 
blind fatalism which it teaches, in the wars of con- 
quest and desolation, the incitement to which is 
wrought into the very substance of the religion, in 
the polygamy, and the consequent degradation of 
the female sex, which it not dnly permits, but ex- 
pressly encourages — how much is there in obvi- 
ous contradiction to the safest conclusions of 
reason, and the instructions of experience 
with regard to man's moral nature, and the 
welfare and happiness of society 1 If we pro- 
ceed to consider the probable effects of any of 
these religious opinions, we shall find (with the 
exception of that portion of Christian belief and 
morals, which Mahomet has incorporated into 
his system) nothing to elevate or to purify, and 
every thing to depress and degrade the intellec- 
tual and social character of man. 

Such is their obvious tendency ; but the actual 
practical result, as witnessed in every age, and 
throughout the fairest portions of the earth, is yet 
more gloomy than the theory could have led us 
to anticipate. There, over the noblest races of 
mankind, upon whom nature has poured her gifts 
in lavish exuberance, an all-pervading political, 
and a far more gloomy and depressing domestic 



113 

tyranny, has established her empire ; there the 
mind slumbers, un awakened by any of those in- 
spiring motives and ennobling contemplations 
which invigorate its energies, dignify its pursuits, 
" spread the young thought, and warm the open- 
" ing heart." 

If, in some of those bright periods of anti- 
quity, to which literary enthusiasm loves to turn, 
some few amongst those who dwelt in dark- 
ness, and bowed down before idols, were capable 
of the grandest exertions of genius, on which 
posterity still gazes with admiration, how feeble, 
how partial, was their influence upon the mass of 
the community ! How slight the effects of the 
compositions of the wisest philosophers, and the 
greatest of poets upon the intellectual character, 
and how much less upon the moral habits and 
opinions of their countrymen. These few and 
scattered lights, served but to show the thickness 
of the gloom by which they were surrounded. 
The lofty and grave strains of their eloquent 
sages, and their poets — 

Teachers best 

Of moral prudence, with delight received 
In brief sententious precepts, while they treat 
Of fate, and chance, and change, in human life. 
High actions and high passions best describing — 

fell sweetly on the ear, but could never reach the 
hearts of the worshippers of licentious, sensual; 
and cruel divinities. 

15 



114 



It is not, therefore, any transgression against 
the sound rules of the Inductive Philosophy, 
when, without much consideration, and certainly 
without any very critical examination of its ex- 
ternal testimonies, we reject the Koran, and the 
whole Mahometan creed, simply upon the moral 
internal evidence of its falsehood, and say with 
Jeremy Taylor — " He that considers, concerning 
" the religion and person of Mahomet, that he 
" (the prophet) was a vicious person, lustful and 
" tyrannical ; that he propounded incredible and 
" ridiculous propositions to his disciples ; that it 
" (the religion) entered by the sword, by blood 
" and violence, by murder and robbery ; that it 
" propounds sensual rewards, and allures to com- 
" pliance by bribing our basest lusts ; that it con- 
" tinues itself by the same means it entered ; 
" that it is unlearned and foolish, against reason, 
" and the discourse of all wise men ; in short, 
" that in the person that founded it, in the article 
" it persuades, in the manner of prevailing, in 
" the reward it offers, it is unholy, and foolish, 
"'and rude ; it must needs appear to be void 
" of all pretence, and that no man of reason can 
a ever be fairly persuaded by argument, that it is 
" the daughter of God, and came down from 
"heaven."* 



* Ductor Dubitantium, 



115 



This is a just and natural course of reasoning. 
Now, it is by a process of ratiocination, of pre- 
cisely the same logical character, and found- 
ed on the same principles, that, from our moral 
approbation of the doctrines^ precepts, and influ- 
ence of Christianity, we may, independently of 
all the external attestations to its miraculous pro- 
pagation and primitive history, without justly ex- 
posing ourselves to the charge of being either 
weak or fanatical, embrace that religion, whose 
goodness and excellence, to borrow again some 
of the beautiful imagery of Taylor — " enters 
among men like rain into a fleece of wool, or the 
sun into a window, without noise or violence, 
without emotion or disordering the political con- 
stitution, without trouble to any man, but what 
his own ignorance and peevishness causes; which 
defended itself against enemies by patience, and 
overcame them by kindness, and was the great 
instrument of God, to demonstrate his power in 
our weaknesses, and to do good to mankind by 
the demonstration of his excellent goodness ; a 
religion changing the face of things, piercing in- 
to the secrets of the soul, unravelling the myste- 
ries of all hearts, reforming vile thoughts, and 
breaking vile habits into gentleness and coun- 
sel." 

Indeed, it appears to me, that the applying, in 
this way, the argument against the possibility of 



116 



any internal evidence of religion level to human 
comprehension, which takes for granted man' sen- 
tire incompetence to judge of God's works and 
will, to the superstitions of India, or to any other 
religious system, inculcating, as a necessary part 
of its doctrine, false, sensual or corrupt morality, 
is a fair experimentum Cruris, (to use the lan- 
guage and the logic of Bacon,) and affords a deci- 
sive proof of its unsoundness. If those who hold 
this opinion, be correct in their general principles 
and deductions, then i t is a legitimate consequence,, 
that an immoral and impure religion, one dan- 
gerous to the good order of society, degrading the 
man, and corrupting the citizen — the Hindoo su- 
perstition, for example, with all its rabble of di- 
vinities, and its varied abominations of worship, 
would stand precisely on the same ground of au- 
thority and claim for reception, with a doctrine of 
purity and holiness, previous to the examination 
of the history and external proofs of either. We 
must look merely to that part of their attestation, 
and the very same quantit yand proportion of it 
would be sufficient for either or for both. 

Without doubt, this conclusion is against the 
common sense of all men, and in contradiction 
to the manner in which we are all irresistibly 
led to form our estimates of any dogmas or pre- 
cepts whatever, which are authoritatively pro- 
posed for our belief and obedience . 



117 



Every one who will seriously reflect upon the 
subject, will be able to fill up for himself the 
details of the several heads of inquiry which 
have been rather generally stated than explain- 
ed m the foregoing pages. This he can do for 
himself much more satisfactorily than it can be 
done for him by another ; since, from the moral 
and physical diversity of human consitutions, of 
characters, and of personal experience in life, 
there are particular points of evidence or argu- 
ment, which carry to certain minds degrees of 
luminousness and impression which must be far 
less distinctly felt by others. 

From the whole of these, or from the combi- 
nation of any number of them, results that cu- 
mulative effect which has already been repeat- 
edly insisted upon as a grand characteristic of 
this whole evidence ; an effect so powerful in its 
impression, and yet so difficult to be expressed. 

In brief, however, the force of the whole ar- 
gument from the internal evidence of the pro- 
minent truths of revelation (as completely se- 
parated from that of a strictly historical or criti- 
cal character) may be thus compendiously stated: 

If a religion contains and inculcates among 
those doctrines, which we are sure are funda- 
mental and essential to it, and neither our in- 
ferences from its laws, nor positive human in- 
stitutions or inventions, engrafted upon them, 



118 



none directly contrary to the first and universal 
principles of sound reason or the fundamental 
truths of morals, even though some of these doc- 
trines may be widely different from what we 
might have, with no small probability conjectured, 
or have, from analogy, presumed to be true- — 

If these doctrines (on this very account just sta- 
ted, not likely to have been invented by man to 
deceive man) contain many facts and instruc- 
tions, which reason never did nor never could 
discover, but when once announced, and can- 
didly weighed, are perceived to be true, right 
and just ; and though not discoverable by the 
understanding, are yet in accordance with it ; or, 
though never before observed, yet now agree 
with present observation and past experience — ■ 

If these relate to the most solemn and impor- 
tant subjects, to which the mind can be applied, 
such as the nature, and government, and attributes 
of the Creator ; the state, duties, and destinies of 
men — 

If they declare to us, simply and powerfully, 
those secrets of the heart, which all have felt, 
but none have told, none understood — 

If their tendencies are altogether perfective of 
our nature, to alter, to improve, to elevate the 
character, teaching new duties, supplying new 
assistances, kindling holier aspirations, and sug- 
gesting higher motives — ■ 



119 



If all this be not only the obvious intention 
and tendency of these doctrines, but their appa- 
rent and practical effect, though that should be 
as yet partial and imperfect — 

If, when they are rejected, disregarded, or cor- 
rupted, there may be ordinarily traced some cor- 
responding moral defect in actions and dispo- 
sitions, which are either the efficient cause of 
such rejection, or result as a consequence from 
it— 

If their secret and gentle influence has extend- 
ed to thousands, upon whom the restraints of 
human law are necessarily very feeble, and by 
whom the systematic instructions of human wis- 
dom could never be comprehended, as well as to 
many others of more cultivated intelligence, up- 
on whom the moralist, 

Strutting and vapouring in an empty school. 
Had spent his force, but made no proselyte — 

If all these doctrines, precepts, and motives, 
are singularly adapted to the sympathies, the af- 
fections, the miseries, and the frailties of man- 
kind — then we arrive at a very high degree of mo- 
ral certainty that this religion is true. 

The more numerous, and the more important, 
the particulars in which such marks of moral 
truth meet, the greater this probability becomes, 
and, by the accumulation of many such indica- 
tions of truth, the honest inquirer may attain to a 



120 



well-founded and satisfactory moral assurance, 
independent of any proof of an historical or criti- 
cal nature. 

But this evidence is not intended to be inope- 
rative. It is not given to gratify learned curiosi- 
ty. If, then, the inquirer is content to look up- 
on it in that light, to regard it as an uninterested 
spectator, to suffer it to remain as it were exter- 
nal to him, he will imperfectly comprehend that 
pure and peaceable wisdom which is from above. 
Pleasure breathes her soft influence over his 
senses, or the blast of some stern and fierce pas- 
sion arises, and all this goodly show of argument 
and reason vanishes into air. The clear conclu- 
sions, to which his understanding assented, then 
fade away into visionary indistinctness, and he 
turns gladly to rest his mind on the palpable real- 
ities of the world. 

But if, after the first willing reception of the 
doctrines of Jesus, or of those parts of them most 
consonant to the understanding, the necessities, 
or the affections of the individual — no matter up- 
on what ground of reason, or sentiment, or autho- 
rity, or, we may add, of prejudice and custom, 
they may have been embraced, their moral effi- 
cacy is not simply observed, but felt and experi- 
enced ; if it be from his own heart, that he, who 
confesses the faith, draws his confidence that it 
is from God ; if he finds this to be not only a 



121 



convincing but a growing and germinant evi- 
dence, becoming clearer the more it is studied, 
and more intense the more it regulates the 
thoughts and life : surely, reason can ask no 
higher proof. Such a one has a witness within 
himself, and this is, at least to him 9 a demon- 
stration. 

It is, as it were, a kind of personal prophecy 
fulfilled — a predictive promise which he finds ac- 
complished in his own life ; others cannot judge 
concerning it, but to himself it is more than ar- 
gument — it is proof, it is conviction. 

Thus is it, in fact, that these internal evi- 
dences of Christianity are those upon which it is 
most generally, and far most sincerely and fer- 
vently, believed ; so that the unlettered Christian, 
who is utterly ignorant of that body of history 
and learning which attests the veracity of the 
Gospel narrative ; and who, so far from being 
able to refute the objections of an ingenious op- 
ponent, would find it exceedingly difficult, (or 
not improbably, wholly impossible,) to explain 
the reasons of his belief to another, may yet 
possess a ground of confidence in its truth, not 
resting upon logical argument, yet of a strictly 
rational character, which, in his mind, could de- 
rive but little additional strength from the 
learned labours of Lardner, the ingenuity of 
Warburton, or the sagacity of Paley. 

16 



122 



Doubts which he cannot solve have no power 
to disturb him. Objections which he cannot re- 
fute do not perplex him. He has the certainty 
and the consciousness of truth, and in this he 
rests in peace. 

For him more learned* yet far more ignorant, 
who has no such intimate conviction of the one 
great truth, but who can discern speculatively 
what he knows others to read within themselves, 
what remains ? Let him strive 

" To seek 

Those helps, for his occasions ever nigh, 

Who lacks not will to use them ; vows renewed 

On the first motion of a holy thought, 

Vigils of contemplation ; praise and prayer — 

A stream »' hich, from the fountains of the heart 

Issuing however feebly, nowhere flows 

Without access of unexpected strength. 

But, above all, the victory is most sure 

To him, who, seeking faith by virtue, strives 

To yield entire submission to the law 

Of Conscience ; — Conscience reverenced and obeyed, 

As God's most intimate presence in the soul, 

And his most perfect image in the world." 

Wordsworth. 



ESSAY IV. 



The Intention and Uses of the different Kinds of Evidences 
for the Truth of Christianity. 

In the twq preceding Essays it has been endea- 
voured to p^sent a sketch of the more prominent 
of those arguments for the divine origin of Chris- 
tianity, which m^ be drawn from that internal 
evidence of truth which its doctrines contain. 
These are, in the main, of a nature which causes 
them to be more frequently felt than advanced, 
and renders them more fit for the conviction of 
the individual who comprehends them, than for 
the exercise of logical ingenuity in contending 
with the captious and sceptical. Yet they are so 
strong, that I cannot but believe that it must be 
more from want of clearness in the statement 
than of force in the arguments, if it has not been 
satisfactorily proved, that when divines, philoso- 
phers, and scholars, whose opinions are other- 
wise entitled to high respect, impressed with a 
deep conviction of the frailty of human reason, 
and the presumption of theoretical speculation, 
deny that we have, or can have, any means of 
judging of the authority of revealed truth inde- 



124 



pendently of its outward attestations, they carry 
a principle sound in itself to a fallacious and 
very dangerous extreme. 

A rapid review of the principles which have 
been before established or examined, may lead 
us on to other inquiries intimately connected 
with these, and throw some light upon the charac- 
ter of the revelation, and the intention and uses 
of its various evidences. 

The error which has been combated is chiefly 
founded in the opinion that man's ignorance of 
his duties, character, and reflation to his Ma- 
ker, independently of express revelation, is total, 
But if there be, as all nature cries aloud, and as 
revelation itself teaches — if there be in man some 
power, however feeble, of discerning or discover- 
ing moral truths, the truths thus within the reach 
of reason cannot but harmonize with those of re- 
vealed religion. Truth cannot be in hostility to 
itself. On the contrary, all truth, and especially 
all truth of the same species, and relating to the 
same class of beings, is mutually connected, and 
in full accordance throughout; so that Hooker 
had good ground for his sublime metaphysical 
conjecture, that it may possibly be, " that by long 
circuit of deduction, all truth out of any truth 
may be concluded." 

It has been stated and shown that, upon this 
account, the rational and moral internal evidence 



125 



would consist primarily in an agreement and har- 
mony between the revealed religion, and the clear 
intuitions or unaided deductions of reason, re- 
specting our moral character and obligations, and 
the power and being of a great First Cause. 
Besides this, reason, though limited on every side, 
and its most daring and most successful exercise 
constantly reminding us of our feebleness and 
blindness, is yet able to compare, weigh, examine, 
and judge many things when submitted to her 
inspection, which no undirected search or unas- 
sisted effort of her own could have ever reached. 

In the investigation of the laws of mathematics 
and physics, an e very-clay understanding can fol- 
low each step of the demonstrations, and rest with 
certainty in those conclusions of science, the ac- 
tual discovery of which had been reserved for 
those rare intellects, whose appearance in our 
world, from time to time, marks the great epochs 
of the history of knowledge. In a manner ana- 
logous to this natural revelation, the patient and 
teachable mind is capable of comprehending the 
various rational perceptions of truth, beauty, and 
conformity to right reason, which shine forth in 
the sublimer moral revelation of the divine 
Teacher. 

Nor is it solely by means of the cold and ab- 
stract perceptions of truth, by the dry, clear light 
of intellect, the lumen siccum, (as Bacon terms it,) 



126 



that man is enabled to see the value of his reli- 
gion. He has within himself a more efficacious 
test. The heart knows its own sorrows ; and he 
that has tasted how bitter is the knowledge of 
good and evil, and has been taught by the stern 
discipline of life to look into himself, be- 
comes capable at length of comparing the reli- 
gion offered to his acceptance with his own moral 
nature, and of judging of its adaptation to his pre- 
sent infirmities, sorrows, or needs, and to his 
hopes and his dread of futurity. It is not, then, 
only as a guide to the understanding that it is 
offered, but as a medicine to the heart and con- 
science. To these, it comes with arguments 
" which leave us something of choice and love, 
" and though not as evident as the principles of 
" geometry, yet as sure. It is so humane, so per- 
" suasive, so complying with the nature and infir- 
" mities of man, with the actions of his life and his 
" manner of operation, that it seems to have been 
" created on purpose for the needs and uses 
" of this life, for virtues and for hopes, for faith 
" and for charity, to make us believe by love and 
" love by believing."* 

Lastly, when the operation and influence of this 
faith, upon the characters and lives of those who 
embrace it, are observed, we find that these effects, 



* Jeremy Taylor. 



127 



so far forth as they are good, are clearly, and by 
the confession of all its followers, to be ascribed to 
the power of the religion so received ; while the 
evil mixed up with it is as evidently an evil of im- 
perfection, not in harmony with its precepts or 
tendencies, nor naturally springing from its doc- 
trine, (in the manner in which brutal passions and 
degrading vices are necessarily excited, or che- 
rished, or commanded by the oriental or ancient 
superstitions,) but is in plain opposition to all its 
clearest precepts and strongest motives, and 
therefore proves only that this religion is not 
usually immediate, perfect, and irresistible in its 
control. Such a result, whether inferred from the 
exterior conduct of others, or known and felt by 
the believer himself, from the comparison of his 
present with his past character, forms another and 
very copious source of moral testimony. 

All this constitutes a chain of legitimate de- 
monstration according to the strictest rules which 
the inductive philosophy has laid down for the 
investigation of nature's laws. Considered intel- 
lectually, without reference to personal feelings, 
it is founded upon the same principle which 
teaches the sagacious and enlightened physician 
to repose, with unhesitating confidence, upon the 
chemical or mechanical powers of those remedies 
whose efficacy he has repeatedly witnessed. It 
is within the comprehension of the humblest 



128 



and most uncultivated minds, which are usu- 
ally those which most readily imbibe the spi- 
rit of this religion, and exult in its hopes, and 
abound in its fruits. At the same time, it has no 
cause to shrink from the scrutiny of those true 
philosophers who have been disciplined in the 
school of rigid science, and there taught, that 
though the magnificent speculations of mere 
theory are as gratifying to our vanity as they 
are indulgent to our indolence, real know- 
ledge is only to be attained by seeking it with 
cheerful submission and humble diligence in the 
rough paths of experience. 

If this be correct, Christianity carries with it 
its own evidence to those who are willing to find 
it true ; and to the mass of mankind its authority 
will always be most powerfully enforced by the 
simple and clear exposition of its leading doc- 
trines, the inculcation of its* plainest precepts, 
and the manifestation of its nature and opera- 
tion, exhibited in the " daily beauty" of the lives 
of its disciples. From these causes, and neither 
from blind submission to authority, nor from the 
wild impulses of an undiscerning enthusiasm, it 
has been honoured and obeyed by thousands who 
have walked humbly through life, guided by hope, 
and feeling, and faith, and not by book-learned 
wisdom ; but who, in the very exercise of that 
faith, feeling, and hope, have, at the same time. 



129 



exerted the highest and surest powers of the un- 
derstanding. 

I am well aware that the statements which 
have here been given of this great argument, are 
somewhat loose and general. This has arisen 
partly from a desire to present in one view its 
broad and grand features, without distracting the 
attention, or exciting the prejudices of any, by 
the introduction of the debateable points of the- 
ological controversy ; but more because it is a 
subject where every man must, in a good degree, 
furnish for himself the materials for his own judg- 
ment ; and the manner in which he decides is 
governed and controlled by moral causes, acting 
in a way which it is difficult or impossible to ex- 
plain distinctly in words. It may, therefore, be 
variously received by various dispositions, and 
even oppositely by the same person under differ- 
ent circumstances. It is best studied in the 
books and practice of the religion itself ; and the 
force of the argument consists not in the logical 
accuracy of its deductions, but in the power which 
its several parts bear conviction to the heart. 

There is a broad and undefined grandeur in 
the great truths of religion, mysteriously parta- 
king of the infinite character of their Author, and 
©f the eternal uses to which he has destined them. 

Being intended for the illumination of mil- 
lions of different intellects, upon many millions of 

17 



130 



occasions, they cannot be reduced into the form 
of logical definitions and technical system, with- 
out losing a part of their sublimity and beauty, 
and far more of their power. It is not mqant to 
deny that systems and articles of faith have their 
use in excluding error, and perhaps in facilitating 
the acquisition of knowledge ; but such vast truths 
cannot pass through any human intellect, and be 
adapted to the comprehension of any particular 
understanding, without, in some measure, assu- 
ming the character of mere human science, by be- 
ing, as it were, narrowed duwn to that limited 
standard, and curtailed of that comprehensive- 
ness, which, in the midst of the greatest simplici- 
ty, abounds with measureless variety of instruc- 
tions and motives. What to one mind may be 
dark or wholly incomprehensible, or, if under- 
stood, thrown aside as of no practical use, to 
another, may be full of light and truth. 

I know, too, that in the eyes of some of those 
who are inclined to reduce all revelation to a 
mere authoritative declaration of natural moral- 
ity, some of these positions may seem extrava- 
gant, and perhaps fanatical. 

Of this every reader must judge for himself. 
But I cannot refrain from quoting, not for the 
purpose of authority, but for that of illustration, 
a passage from one of Bishop Horsley's Sermons, 
in which he expresses, evidently as the result of 



his own personal observation, (for he reiterates 
and insists upon the same opinions in other parts 
of his works,) his conviction of the effect of the 
study of our English Bible, upon a sincere and in- 
quiring, but illiterate Christian. It presents more 
personally and practically, but substantially the 
very same estimate of the strength of the inter- 
nal evidence which has been maintained in these 
pages. This attestation is the more valuable, as 
it comes from a scholar of uncommonly varied 
and splendid acquirements, and a reasoner of 
great intellectual vigour and comprehension, who 
may be singled out from among all the great wri- 
ters of our own day, as haying rendered the most 
marked homage of intellect to the majesty of 
truth. 

With little of a devotional spirit — I speak not 
of his personal character, but of the tone of his 
writings — with little sympathy for the elevation, 
the sentiment, or even for the poetry of Chris- 
tianity, still, the clear convictions of his luminous 
understanding gave unhesitating submission to 
its doctrines — perhaps without his feeling, and 
certainly without his much relying upon, or at 
all giving expression to, the warmer emotions of 
the heart. 

" I shall not scruple to assert," says this strong 
and original writer, in a passage marked with all 
the peculiarities of his style and turn of thought, 



132 



in which he speaks of the proficiency which may 
be made in Christian knowledge by studying the 
scriptures, without any other commentary or ex*- 
position than what the different parts of the sa- 
cred volume furnish each other— " that the most 
" illiterate Christian, if he can but read his En- 
" glish Bible, and will take the pains to read it in 
" this way, will not only attain to all that practical 
** knowledge which is necessary to his salvation, 
" but by God's help he will become learned in 
" every thing relating to his religion in such a de- 
" gree that he would not be liable to be misled, 
" either by the refined arguments, or by the false 
" assertions of those who endeavour to engraft 
61 their own opinions upon the oracles of God. 

" He may safely be ignorant of all philosophy, 
" except what is to be learned from the sacred 
" books, which, indeed, contain the highest phi- 
" losophy, adapted to the lowest apprehensions. 
" He may safely remain ignorant of all history, 
" except so much of the history of the first ages 

of the Jewish and Christian churches, as is to 
a be gathered from the canonical books of the Old 
" and New Testament. Let him study these in 
" the manner I recommend, and let him never 
" cease to pray for the illumination of that Spirit 
£< by which these books were dictated, and the 
" whole compass of abstruse philosophy and re- 
" condite history shall furnish no argument with 



133 



u which the perverse will of man shall be able to 
" shake this learned Christian's faith. The Bi- 
" ble thus studied, will prove what we Protestants 
" esteem it, a certain and sufficient rule of faith 
" and practice, which alone may quench the fiery 
" darts of the wicked."* 

Here a very curious, and certainly a very im- 
portant inquiry, naturally suggests itself. If this 
religion contain so large and so efficacious a share 
of its evidence within itself— if the sacred books 
which teach it, bear witness unto themselves, it 
may be naturally asked what is the use or impor- 
tance of any additional proof I 

What occasion can there be for historical, or 
critical, or other evidences 1 What have we to do 
with deductions from human learning, in history, 
languages or antiquities I May not the study of 
such evidences be worse than useless ? Are not 
all these things the presumptuous and vain in- 
ventions of man, ambitious to add his little mite 
to the measureless treasures of his Maker's wis- 
dom ? 

These are not sceptical difficulties, raised 
only to be answered. It is very true, that 
they are not now commonly to be met with in 
the books of the day, nor are they ever heard 
from the pulpits of our educated clergy ; but 
p they have no inconsiderable sway over the opi- 



* Horsley's Five Sermons. 



134 



nions of many, who, though scorned by some as 
fanatical, are allowed by all to be honest, whose 
sincerity and fervour give them a large and just 
influence in the community ; and whose pure zeal 
and humble virtues will always command the re- 
spect of the wise and good. Nor are these opi- 
nions without the countenance of great names. 
There are passages in the works of Calvin, which, 
if they do not amount to a distinct avowal of this 
sentiment in its full extent, afford ground for 
thinking that this was the inclination of the great 
Reformer's mind. 

But by far the most valuable result to. be ex- 
pected from such an inquiry is, that its prosecu- 
tion must necessarily involve the establishment 
of some principles of great and extensive utility; 
and the knowledge of these may serve to give us 
more distinct perceptions of the character and 
uses of the Christian evidences. 

To the questions which have just been asked, 
it may be a sufficient reply, in general terms, that 
it has pleased the Almighty to offer a variety of 
inducements to invite, and various confirmations 
to strengthen, according to their acquirements or 
talents, the faith of those who receive his com- 
mandments and instructions, with "an honest and 
good heart," as well as to leave obstinate incre- 
dulity, or scarcely less culpable negligence, with- 
out excuse, by connecting with the records of his 



135 



manifestation of himself to mankind, strong ex- 
ternal attestations, similar to the evidence upon 
which we believe and act in the ordinary affairs 
of life. It is, moreover, quite clear that the ex- 
ternal corroboration of the miraculous history 
of revelation, is well fitted to command atten- 
tion and to invite to serious examination, thus 
giving a more authoritative character to its whole 
system of doctrines. Had it. been proposed* 
without any external corroboration, as an unsup- 
ported body of moral truth, it might have seemed, 
to cultivated minds, and bold reasoners, a beauti- 
ful and probable speculation, but resting upon the 
same foundation with the ethics of Socrates or 
Cicero ; and, therefore, one which we are not 
imperatively called upon to receive as the unerr- 
ing guide of life and opinion. They would, for 
this reason, feel themselves perfectly at liberty to 
select from it, and adopt those parts only most 
congenial to their tastes and dispositions, most 
conformable to their preconceived notions, and 
least hostile to the idols of their own secret 
worship.* 

A more ample and satisfactory development 
of the whole subject will be furnished by consi- 
dering separately these several points : 

I. The relation which these distinct species of 
evidence bear to the external circumstances, the 



* See note G, 



136 



characters, tempers, and moral dispositions of 
individuals. 

II. The order and apparent intention of Provi- 
dence in the unequal distribution of certain intel- 
lectual gifts, and in the several means of infor- 
mation offered to the different classes of society, 
and the consequent duties imposed upon men 
arising from the talents, natural or acquired, re- 
spectively committed to their trust. 

III. The extent to which the internal evidence 
can be applied and made to bear witness to the au- 
thority of any doctrines or commandments ; and 
as intimately connected with this consideration — 

IV. The source of the peculiar claim to au- 
thority, which is due to the whole body of revela- 
tion, extending even to the obligation of its ritual 
and positive institutions. 

The internal evidence, in its highest and pe- 
culiar sense, as has before been observed, is en- 
tirely of a moral nature. When the first teachers 
of Christianity proclaimed the necessity of belief 
and repentance, coupling them together as form- 
ing the necessary groundwork and first stages of 
the Christian character, that is no accidental or 
arbitrary association. It is in congruity with the 
nature of man, who, frail, feeble, and uncertain 
in his purposes, is yet of " large discourse of rea- 
son, looking before and after." Half animal and 
half intellectual, he is born the slave of passions, 



137 



which frequently overpower, but oftener delude, 
that reason which is entitled to rule and restrain 
them. But the doctrines of such a religion as 
ours are little suited to be, on their own account, 
even speculatively allowed by men unawakened 
to a sense of their own real wants and their true 
nature, who are dazzled with the bright phantoms 
of life, or maddened with its pleasures, fevered 
with the contests of ambition, or eager in the pur- 
suit of wealth. It is true, that if we bring to their 
contemplation pure eyes and uncorrupted senses, 
we may see in them a divine majesty, powerful to 
subdue all opposition. " Si puros oculos, et in- 
tegros sensus afferimus, statim occurret Dei ma- 
jestas, quae, subacta rectamandi audacia nos sibi 
parere cogat,"* says Calvin, and he says wisely 
and well. But when the pure eyes and uncor- 
rupt senses are not there, the doctrines well- 
suited to their apprehension will seem to eyes 
blinded by the glories, and to senses blunted by 
the pleasures of the world, but as cunningly de- 
vised fables. Or, if not thus scornfully refused, 
they will, at least, be received by men wholly oc- 
cupied with the cares and enjoyments which press 
upon their attention as things distant, shadowy, 
and unreal, in which, whether true or false, they 
have no immediate interest, and if to be submit- 



Calvin. Institut. lib. I. cap. 7. 

18 



138 



ted to at all, certainly not until some more con- 
venient season. 

The proud man can see no beauty to charm, 
or sign of truth to convince, in the religion of hu- 
mility, nor the gross sensualist in the doctrines of 
purity. He who feels no remorse or shame for 
past transgression, cannot be much touched with 
an offer of pardon, or cherish any ardent desire 
to be relieved from the thraldom of his vices. 
Until the gay illusion of life is dissipated, until 
man, in the expressive phrase of Jansenist moral- 
ity, is undeceived, all these things are foolishness 
to him. It is needless to show that these views 
are consonant with the doctrines of Christianity ; 
but, independently of that authority, the observa- 
tion of mankind and of ourselves will show us 
one great law governing our whole moral being — 
that moral and religious truth, to be understood, 
must be felt ; that men whose deeds are evil, will 
" love darkness rather than light," and that, in 
order to know clearly the will of our Maker, we 
must be desirous to do it. 

Now the historical evidence throughout all its 
l-amiflcations is wholly of another sort. It is 
founded upon the ordinary rules of testimony, 
such as we act upon in the common course of life, 
and such as regulate the acquisition, and establish 
the certainty, of all human knowledge, excepting 
only the demonstrative deductions of pure science. 



189 



m the ancient and strictest sense of that term. It 
requires no peculiarity of moral disposition to 
precede or to accompany it. It demands nothing 
of those who are of competent good sense and 
information, but ordinary fairness and candour. 
It is true, that even here, prejudices, arising from 
repugnancy to the purifying and hiunbling doc- 
trines of redemption, may intrude, and produce 
self-willed blindness, or, perhaps, rise to an infu- 
riated malignity of opposition. Still, this kind of 
evidence is such, that whoever is competent to de- 
cide upon any other mass of historical facts, may 
judge of this also, if he will consider it with that 
same share of candid attention which is necessary 
to form a just estimate of any complicated chain 
of evidence whatever. This honest and fair re- 
ception of historical truth, allowing it to be wholly 
speculative, and, for a season, inoperative, is yet 
well fitted to prepare the mind for submission to 
the grander and more efficacious doctrinal and 
ethical truths of which the history is but the vehi- 
cle. 

The full possession and comprehension of the 
external evidence is like going back to the apos- 
tolic age, and placing before our own eyes the 
very miracles performed in authentication of the 
divine message ; and though it was said of old, 
" Blessed are they that have not seen and have 
believed," there are not wanting minds in any 



140 



age, who, like the doubting apostle, believe only 
because they have seen. Having satisfied them- 
selves that the books of the scriptures contain the 
will of God, they receive that will — if not gladly, 
yet still they do receive it. Though they may 
be blind to much of its excellence and its beauty, 
and feel little or nothing of its power, they find 
themselves compelled, as honest men, to allow 
its truth ; and thus it is not unfrequently found 
that, as the majority of unlearned Christians are 
led to belief and knowledge by the affections or 
sorrows of the heart, so, in another much smaller 
class of improved and cultivated intellects, the 
understanding is first coldly convinced by meta- 
physical or historical proofs, and when that con- 
viction has taken firm root, it is often made, by 
time and culture, to produce a nobler and purer 
faith, and to bring forth plenteously the peaceful 
fruits of righteousness. 

It is plain that this process of conviction, and 
these appeals to historical proof, are out of the 
reach of many ; and in some ages and countries 
must be exceedingly limited in their influence, 
though far less so in our state of society in this 
country than in most other parts of the Christian 
world, or than has universally beeri the case in 
former times. It seems probable, too, that this 
evidence is destined, in the natural progress of 
society, to be of far greater efficacy than it now 



141 



i;3. The argument is every day becoming more 
popular in its character, and more extensive in its 
use, and will continue to become so. This is a 
reasonable and natural anticipation from the pre- 
sent cheering prospects of society, when educa- 
tion is every where making unexampled pro- 
gress, when the political condition of a large 
portion of the human race, in spite of numerous 
obstacles, is decidedly improving, and when com- 
merce, and the spirit of adventure and scientific 
curiosity, are making their way in all directions 
through the distant and less enlightened nations 
of the globe. 

This is, also, a fair inference from the experi- 
ence of the last two centuries. It is now about 
one hundred and eighty years since the illustrious 
Grotius published his learned treatise De Veri- 
tate, in proof of the truth of Christianity. 
This was a book fitted only for scholars, and 
could, of course, be read only by a few hundred 
persons in all Europe. Yet it was by far the 
most popular essay on the subject which had then 
been written. How different is the character of 
Paley's work on the same subject ! How much 
less scholastic, how much more fitted for general 
circulation ! And, in fact, it probably is now 
read by thousands of readers for every single one 
which Grotius' work, with all the deserved popu- 
larity of its author, had in his day. 



■ 142 

Some metaphysical sceptics, arguing from 
what La Place has termed the necessary degra- 
dation of evidence by successive transmission, 
have asserted that the whole proof of any history, 
as it recedes from the time of the original wit- 
nesses, is continually growing fainter and fainter, 
from the chance of mistake or fraud in every suc- 
cessive stage. Consequently, the fact of the as- 
sassination of Csesar in the Capitol is less proba- 
ble now than it was in the days of Columbus, and 
will become still less so in each succeeding cen- 
tury. It is not worth while to point out in this 
place the obvious fallacy of this position ; but it is 
remarkable that in the particular evidence of 
Christian history, the fact is now precisely the re- 
verse. In the progress of society, knowledge has 
not only made unexampled attainments, but it 
has spread those attainments more and more 
abroad, and in eveiy generation extended its in- 
fluence to a wider and wider circle. Each age, 
as it recedes from that of the original witnesses, is 
going on to increase the number of secondary 
and derivative ones ; to augment the collateral 
and circumstantial proofs which corroborate 
their declarations, and to make the moral evi- 
dence shine forth more and more luminously. 
Besides this, the diffusion of useful knowledge 
among the people in later years, has brought 
the historical question, with all its formerly re- 



143 



condite learning, down to the level of a muck 
greater number of judges. 

If we look back to the period which may be re- 
garded as the commencing epoch of modern Eu- 
ropean manners, tastes, opinions, politics, and 
letters, beginning at the revolution of 1688, and 
going down to the middle of the last century, we 
shall see that this field of argument was then trod- 
den only by scholars and critics, and the public 
combat was between such learned men as Clarke 
and Bentley, Bolingbroke and Toland ; while the 
sole readers and judges of their labours were the 
elegant scholars and well-educated men of the 
day. Since that time, reading has become more 
universal ; the elements of useful knowledge have 
been communicated to thousands, and the anti- 
quarian and critical facts upon which some parts 
of the discussion turn, absolutely and indisputa- 
bly settled by mutual concessions, or the univer- 
sal consent of the learned. When Christianity is 
now assailed on this ground, she no longer de- 
mands for her defence the profound researches of 
a Lardner, and plain artizans and farmers here, 
and in some parts of Europe, are able to decide 
for themselves between the popular statements of 
Paine and Watson. This, accordingly, seems 
to be a sort of evidence constantly becoming, and 
destined to become, more and more extensive in 
its use> and more authoritative, as the decisions 



144 



upon it are successively confirmed by numerous 
and unprejudiced judges. It will grow every 
day more powerful as knowledge augments, as 
education becomes common, and as liberty and 
equal laws give free scope throughout the world 
to the u might that slumbers in the peasant's 
soul."* In this respect I cannot help thinking, 
that the animating prospects which a benevolent 
philosophy suggests, concerning the high des- 
tinies of our race, and for the fulfilment of which 
she looks confidently to the mighty agency of 
popular education, of the press, and the spirit of 
freedom, coincide with the predictions which 
revelation has made concerning her own future 
triumphs and universal empire. 

Let us now proceed a few steps further, and 
contemplate this subject as it were from another 
station, and under a different light. We may, 
Ftrust, without presumption, inquire what appears 
to be the ultimate design of Providence in this 
adaptation of evidence to the various ranks and 
classes of Christians. 

It is an obvious fact, that to very few indeed, 
(in proportion to the whole number in all na- 
tions and times,) are given the gifts of learning, 
even employing that word in its most humble and 
limited sense, and not as in any wise implying 



* " The might that slumbers in the peasant's arm." 



145 



the profound scholarship of Bossuet or Bentley, 
Porson or Parr. 

The external argument, in its several diversi- 
fied forms and parts, is more peculiarly fitted, as 
has been said, to attract the attention, and to sa- 
tisfy the reason of a certain order of minds. 
Amongst these are some, which, though few in 
number, are high in authority, and of an almost 
unbounded extent of influence over public opi- 
nion. They are, generally speaking, men who, 
either from constitutional character or external 
circumstances, are less prepared by the study of 
themselves for a grateful reception of the faith in 
its simple majesty, but who, from having been 
long exercised in the affairs of the world, or in 
the study of abstract science and curious research, 
have been thus trained and rendered expert to 
judge of speculative or of external truth. Such 
were, among divines, Watson and Lardner ; or, 
far greater than they, Warburton, andHorsley, and 
Barrow ; or among illustrious laymen, such men 
as Chancellor D'Aguesseau, and Duplessis Mor- 
nai in France ; Grotius and Boerhaave in Hoi* 
land; Lord Bacon, Chief Justice Hale, Lord Pre- 
sident Forbes, Newton, Locke, Addison, and Sir 
William Jones, in Great Britain, and our own 
Hamilton. Whether this truth so allowed, remain 
dormant, and purely speculative in their minds, 
is a question of the highest interest to each of the 
19 



146 



individuals of this class ; but whether it does so 
or not, the effect either way of their opinions 
and influence, must be very great. 

By the natural and essential order of civilized 
society, springing out of the universal constitu- 
tion of human nature, there are very many sub- 
jects upon which the vast majority must, and 
ought, in a considerable degree, to rely ultimate- 
ly upon the authority of those original and ac- 
complished minds, who communicate to their 
age and nation their own character and impres- 
sion, as well as more immediately upon that of 
the much more numerous, but still comparatively 
small, class of enlightened understandings, who 
are able perfectly to estimate the arguments, to 
judge of the genius, and to assent rationally to the 
deductions of the grander and guiding minds of 
the times. Through these channels, the exter- 
nal evidence comes to illiterate Christians, not 
in the way of arbitrary requisition to submit to 
authority without an inquiry, but as resting upon 
the deliberate and disinterested decisions of 
those well qualified to investigate and decide 
thereon. It is consequently entitled to respect 
upon the same general principles, and (it ought 
to be particularly observed) with the same or si- 
milar limitations and exceptions, as the un- 
biassed opinions of any class of professional or 
scientific men, in relation to some peculiar object 
of their studies. 



147 



This is in accordance with those common prin- 
ciples of good sense, upon which, in fact, all in- 
telligent men are constantly obliged to regulate 
their conduct in some or other of the most import- 
ant affairs of life. This rational and qualified 
submission to such authority, comprehends some 
exercise of candour, humility, and fair judgment 
in the estimate of the authority itself. Not un- 
frequently, too, it comprehends an appeal to the 
reason to weigh the general force of the argu- 
ment, although the accuracy of its details must 
be taken on trust. Without being able to enter 
into the details of the question, a man of good 
sense may apply his mind to the consideration, 
whether the inferences are fairly drawn ; whe- 
ther the character of any of the instructors entitle 
him to the confidence he claims : whether he is a 
fair and unbiassed judge or witness ; and what 
share personal or professional prejudices or inte- 
rests may have in inducing him to form the con^ 
elusions he urges upon others. 

In this, or some similar way, is insensibly form- 
ed and adopted to the use of Christians of every 
degree of learning, a most valuable collateral 
testimony to the truth of that religion which had 
originally recommended itself to their accept- 
ance, by its purity and excellence, on wholly dif- 
ferent grounds : while, to those who are stran- 
gers to its influence, to the young, the ignorant, 



148 



and the careless, is thus furnished a highly pro- 
bable prima facie proof of its truth, that at least 
commands respect, and asserts an undeniable 
claim to examination and attention. In this way 
the external proof, in some sort performs, in our 
age, the same office which the original miraculous 
attestation accomplished in the primitive times. 

This influence, it is quite obvious, will not ope- 
rate generally and strongly, except in civilized 
communities, where the whole body feels the 
effect, and can more or less fully estimate the 
just worth of its more enlightened members; 
and where, too, the number and the moral power 
of such members are by far the greatest. The 
entire absence of this sort of proof, acting either 
directly or indirectly, strikes me as being one of 

thft most effipipmt spr.nnrlary eauspis to which may 

be ascribed, in the order of Providence, the rela- 
tively small progress of the Gospel in many bar- 
barous and ignorant nations. No inconsiderable 
portion of their torpid indifference towards Chris- 
tianity may be distinctly traced to what Dr. Paley, 
in pointing out the causes of the same apparent 
apathy among ancient scholars, and showing the 
little reliance which can be placed upon the 
judgments of the most acute minds on subjects 
which they are pleased to despise, has termed, 
with philosophical accuracy and brevity, " com 
tempt prior to examination," 



149 

Moreover, however clear and convincing the 
internal evidence may be to individuals, yet a 
religion which is so interwoven with the history 
and progress of society, and of which the mira- 
culous confirmation does in fact form a part of the 
system itself, cannot well be without some ample 
historical proof, whether it rests its claims mainly 
upon that, or on other grounds. The total want, 
or the partial deficiency of such proof, would form 
a positive and perplexing argument against its 
veracity ; and it is in reality upon this point of at- 
tack, that the more popular and successful infidel 
writers have chiefly laboured. The external 
proofs here become of admirable use in the de- 
fence of truth, and in the refutation of those doubts 
which might otherwise overthrow the faith of 
many, or perhaps perplex and harass those whom 
they could not seduce. 

By these arms Infidelity has been again and 
again repelled in her assaults ; sometimes daring 
and open ; sometimes insidious and covert ; em- 
ploying in her unhallowed service, in turns, the 
magnificent declamation of Bolingbroke, the va- 
rious learning and sarcastic irony of Gibbon, 
and the sparkling wit, the ready and versatile 
talent, and the gay profligacy of Voltaire. 

It is, by the way, well worthy of a passing re- 
mark, that, as in our own country a certain degree 
of reading and information is very widely diffused, 



150 



much more of this literary scepticism is to be 
found lurking in certain classes of society than 
is commonly supposed by the clergy, whose offi- 
cial character represses a frank expression of 
opinion, and whose associations in life are not 
commonly such as to give them, in all respects, 
accurate views of the real state of religious sen- 
timent among the laity. Therefore, though it 
can never by any means form the most impor- 
tant or edifying part of their public ministra- 
tions, it seems, on various accounts, proper that 
they should present occasionally to their hearers, 
in a summary and popular form, some of those 
extrinsic proofs with which our religion is so 
wonderfully fortified, 

To the same hands and to the same weapons 
to which has thus been confided the defence of 
these outworks of sacred truth, has been also, in 
a remarkable degree, (though not wholly,) en- 
trusted the preservation of its purity. 

No stronger example can be given of the value 
of that evidence, which is founded upon human tes- 
timony, and judged of by means of human learn- 
ing, than its utility in settling that canon of scrip- 
ture, from which the rules of our belief and prac- 
tice are to be drawn. A minute survey of the va- 
rious heresies and contests which have agitated 
the Christian world, would show very clearly how 
efficient an instrument learning applied to the ex- 



151 



ternal proof of doctrine has ever been, in checkings 
and not unfrequently in wholly exterminating er- 
ror. Though it must be confessed, that the most 
unhallowed passions have too often mingled with 
the conflicts and the triumphs of learning, that 
few of her victories have been unpolluted by the 
bitter intolerance of controversy, and good men 
in all ages have seen with mixed feelings of ex* 
ultation and sorrow, 

" The Truth preserved, and Charity forgot." 

These considerations naturally lead us to the 
further examination of another point — the extent 
to which this internal evidence of doctrine can be 
applied. It may be asked, if these doctrines thus 
bear indelible marks of their truth about them — 
does not that consideration alone afford a true and 
unfailing rule for the decision of controversy, the 
termination of all doubts, and the irrefutable esta- 
blishment of truth ? Is the general authority of 
revelation ever to be taken into account? and 
does not every dogma proposed prove or refute 
itself at once to attentive and honest minds, with- 
out any necessity of our entering into laboured 
investigation as to the interpretation of the pas- 
sages in which it may be supposed to be al- 
leged ? 

The very statement of these questions fur- 
nishes the answer. 

The internal evidence, such as I have endea- 
voured to portray its features, is of a very gene- 



152 



ral nature. Though bearing an immediate and 
decisive testimony to those revealed doctrines 
which most immediately affect the feelings, and 
decidedly ameliorate the character of individuals, 
still it does not by any means appear sufficient to 
preserve from many errors and diversities of opi- 
nion, and these* though not fatal, nor, strictly 
speaking, fundamental, yet undoubtedly, in very 
many cases, of a pernicious tendency. 

It cannot reasonably be questioned, by candid 
and tolerant observers, that, in the darkest super- 
stitions which have overshadowed the Church in 
her most benighted age, as well as in many of 
the wildest extravagances of Protestant fanati- 
cism, this religion has in substance and in power 
approved itself, in some manner or other, to the 
consciences and the understandings of many sin- 
cere and virtuous men who accepted it, mixed 
with vain or corrupt inventions, or the incoherent 
dreams of enthusiasm. 

Upon the same great foundation, sect after 
sect has built its own narrow superstructure, 
mixing base materials with the stones of the 
temple. Over all, Truth has constantly shone 
forth, warning, guiding, and cheering all who 
came to its light ; but, at the same time, shed- 
ding something of its own sanctity over the follies, 
and even the corruptions which had risen up be- 
neath its beams. John Wesley, speaking of those 
strange delusions which accompanied the mys- 



158 



ticism of Jansenist devotion in his days, says, in a 
passage, of which I have often admired alike the 
sound philosophy and the Christian spirit — " In 
all these things I see great faith and great super- 
stition ; and it may well be, that God has accepted 
the faith, and pardoned the superstition."* He 
had reference, I believe, particularly to the mira- 
cles said to have been performed at the tomb of 
the Abbe Paris, and of course could not have been 
informed, at the time, of those circumstances which 
afterwards enabled more rigid judges, as well Ca- 
tholic as Protestant, to show the true nature of 
these extraordinary, but not supernatural events. 
But his principle was wise and liberal, and it ex- 
tends not only to honest differences of opinion 
on points indifferent or secondary, but also to 
many gross errors and wild delusions which have 
prevailed among Christians* 

The fair and rational inference from the fact, 
that truth has given such decisive signs of power, 
while falsehood and fraud have been permitted to 
follow and participate in her triumphs, is, that in 
these doctrines a»d precepts there is a positive 
internal evidence, how far extending is not easy to 



* This is quoted from memory. I have not seen the passage for several 
years, and cannot now refer to it. It is possible that Wesley may have 
alluded to some other occurrences than the prodigies at the tomb of ^he 
Abbe Paris. But his sentiment, and I believe his language? are fjearly a? 
above represented. 



154 



trace, but certainly only to such instruction as m 
the most essential and practical. Besides this, 
what is essential and practical to one, may to 
another be but partial and elementary ; and this 
moral light, too, differs in clearness and intensity, 
according to the circumstances of situation, of cha- 
racter, and intellectual and moral culture ; varying 
according to the temptations which surround us, 
the difficulties we are called upon to encounter, 
and the duties we are bound to perform. In 
whatever degree, however, it may exist, it is 
this that recommends their religion to the mass 
of believers; while those who have the power 
of forming their opinions on the theory of their 
creed for themselves, by study and investiga- 
tion, and especially those who aspire to be- 
come in any manner the guides and teachers 
of their brethren, have no right, nor can they 
with safety neglect that fuller rule of faith which 
is within their reach. The internal evidence 
attests to that rule, but does not supply its place. 
It is positive only to a certain and limited extent, 
and does not often act negatively, to the exclusion 
of falsehood. It bears testimony to truth, but not 
to all truth, nor against all error. 

Every creed does and must contain some arti- 
cles relating to purely positive institutions, and 
to matters and events wholly beyond the reach 
of our knowledge or observation, none of which 



155 



are within the cognizance of reason or of senti- 
ment, except so far as to enable us to perceive 
that they are not contradictory and impossible. 
Concerning these, therefore, the only questions 
ean be " how is it written 1" and what is the right 
interpretation, and the just authority of that wri- 
ting ? Yet these articles bear such claims, that, if 
true and right, they cannot be rejected wilfully 
without much guilt, or ignorantly without some 
danger. 

The examination of some prominent instance 
of the use and necessity of external evidence, 
will make these views clearer than can be done 
by general reflections. 

Let us briefly consider the question with refe- 
rence to a very important subject, the canonical 
authority of the several books or parts of Scrip- 
ture, and this decision materially involves that of 
numerous collateral questions. 

Upon the principles which have been main- 
tained in these Essays, we may fully assent to 
Calvin, * when he says that there are in the Scrip- 
tures manifest evidences of God speaking in 
them, and that the divine majesty will appear to 
those who examine them with clear understand- 
ings and obedient wills. But when he goes on to 
assert that this belief is self-dependant, and that 



* Calvin. Inst. Lib. i. Cap. 7. s. 4, 5. " Hanc quidcm esse sturiTKnty 
ncque demonstratione aut ration ibus subjici earn fas est," &c, 



156 



it is not allowable to support it by argument or 
demonstration ; and when some of his followers 
have asserted that they know the apocryphal from 
the canonical books solely by this internal evi- 
dence and persuasion, then they go to an extent 
not warranted by any express declaration of re- 
velation ; not borne out by facts; and, though 
clearly possible, yet, unless backed by direct 
proof, not probable to reason. 

Is it the fact that when Luther denied the au^ 
thenticity of the, epistle of James, or when cer- 
tain modern theologians and biblical critics, 
disputed the first chapter of Matthew's gospel, 
that either of these were questions to be decided 
barely upon internal evidence ; or that private in- 
dividuals could lay claim to the light of inspira- 
tion directing their judgment upon them ? Or, 
to take perhaps a stronger instance, when Whis- 
ton, iu the beginning of the last century, reviving 
an opinion of the ancient church, claimed the au- 
thority of an inspired and apostolic writing for 
the first epistle of Clemens Romanus, a composi- 
tion beautiful for its meek benevolence, admirable 
for its pure morality, inculcating the doctrines of 
Paul, and breathing the spirit of John ; is it true 
that it was simply upon an internal evidence, 
either of natural reason or of supernatural illu- 
mination, exclusive of the ordinary aids furnished 
by historical, critical, and theological learning, 



157 



that the whole Christian world have concurred 
in rejecting it from the canon of their faith, though 
they have, with few exceptions, united in placing 
it in the most honoured rank of primitive and 
holy, though uninspired, compositions ? 

Whatever opinions of this nature, excellent 
and wise men have been led to maintain by their 
zeal for the efficacy of the written word, yet al- 
most all well-informed Christians in our day act 
upon very different principles. In spite even of 
Calvin's name and authority, I believe that most 
of those who now bear his name will confess, with 
that illustrious ornament of their communion, 
Richard Baxter, that we must look to exterior and 
human testimony to draw the precise line be- 
tween the canonical and apocryphal writings, and 
to attest to the superior authority of some merely 
liistorical books over others.* 

Indeed, with regard to Calvin, I am inclined 
to consider his remarks on this point as being in 
truth a general and unqualified expression of 
sound opinion, founded on a vivid conviction of 
the power of the internal and moral evidence, 
and stated very broadly, and, after his manner, 
very strongly, in opposition to those of his theo- 
logical antagonists of the Roman Catholic church, 
who, resting the authority of the scriptures solely 



* See Baxter, and others, as quoted by Jones on the Canon, Vol. I. 



158 



upon that of the church, spoke with unbridled 
contempt of all other proof.* 

This whole subject is extremely well and can- 
didly discussed by Jeremiah Jones, in the first 
part of his valuable and learned book on the ca- 
nonical authority of the New Testament, to 
which the curious reader may be referred for an 
ample, learned, and judicious statement of that 
controversy. 

All the foregoing considerations combine to 
point out another, and probably the most impor- 
tant, use of the historical and external evidences. 

They give to the whole body of revelation a 
uniform and authoritative claim to reverence and 
reception, founded upon arguments specially fitted 
for, and addressed to, those who are constituted 
by talents, education, and station, either ecclesi- 
astical or civil, the natural guides and teachers of 
their fellow-Christians, by whom they are looked 
up to for instruction in the theory of religion, and 
who are, in no small measure, responsible for the 

* Cardinal Hosius, a cotemporary of Calvin, is quoted as saying, 
^scripturas, sidesitecclesiae autoritas,tantum valere quantum fabulas Esopi. ; ' 
The Horcs Biblicee of Charles Butler, a distinguished living Roman Cath- 
olic lawyer, well known to his profession as the learned commentator upon 
Lord Coke,'and notless honored among general scholars for the extent and act 
curacy of his attainments, breathes a very different spirit, and the contrast 
it presents to this and similar passages should teach us to be cautious of 
charging upon those who differ from us those extravagances of conduct or 
opinion, which are often the errors solely of the age, or, it may be, of the 
individual. 



159 



errors of those whom they wilfully or carelessly 
mislead by precept or example. 

With whatever degree of light and clearness*, 
so much, and that the most efficacious portion, 
of moral and revealed truth may approve itself to 
the consciences and understandings of the honest 
and penitent, yet it is highly probable, d priori, 
and it is most certain, in fact, that the Christian 
revelation must and does contain, together with 
something of purely positive institution, much 
that is beyond our observation, remote from our 
experience, and concerning which man has no 
power of judging whether it be true or false, 
right or wrong, except that he perceives that it 
is not in palpable repugnance to common sense, 
and therefore, so far as his reason can show 
him, may or may not be true. Of this not a 
little is plainly and expressly designed to curb 
the passions, and to humble the pride, and there- 
fore, 'if we could get rid of it, it is certain that 
we should gladly wish it away. 

The variety of sects and opinions which have 
prevailed in the Christian world, have not all of 
them arisen — at least, most certainly, they have 
not entirely arisen— from honest errors of inter- 
pretation, from want of knowledge, or want of 
understanding. Much of this unhappy discord 
has been the fruit of the moral causes which 
have been before intimated. If, then, the doc- 



160 



irines of revelation had no other authority than 
their internal evidence, though they would still 
bear conviction to thousands, what would there 
have been left to guide the honest inquirer, amidst 
jarring theories and subtile disputations ; or to 
check the ambitious zealot, and the speculative 
philosophist, from selecting and rejecting, at 
their own discretion, and without blame or re- 
straint, the doctrines which they approved, or the 
institutions which they might think reasonable ? 

As long as human passions are left free to 
act, and the constitution of our intellectual na- 
ture remains as it is, influenced by prejudices, 
and liable to errors, this danger will never be 
wholly excluded. But what better moral guard 
can be imagined, than a strong and complicated 
testimony, peculiarly fitted for inviting the most 
rigorous examination of all who are in fact the 
guides and teachers of their brethren, whether 
actually discharging the offices of pastoral in- 
struction and duty, or indirectly influencing the 
opinions of the people from other causes'? — a 
class not inconsiderable in any Christian age or 
country, but in this period of increased and in- 
creasing light, and diffused information, every 
day becoming moi;e and more numerous. To 
all such the external evidence brings down the 
original miraculous attestation of the preaching 
of our Lord and his apostles, as it were, to their 



161 



own days, and places it before them, stamping 
upon the book so evidenced, the proof of its 
containing a message from God. This gives a 
unity of claim, an equal right to reception to the 
whole, and when once it has been acknowledged 
whether upon that proof alone, or from the cha- 
racter of its more prominent doctrines, it de- 
mands an honest and unreserved submission to 
all that we conscientiously believe it to inculcate. 
It affords an authorized rule, a code of revealed 
law, whereby we may try the teaching of reli- 
gious rulers and chiefs, speaking with autho- 
rity, where reason can only muse in silent 
wonder, which reminds man of his frailty and 
ignorance, and bids him accept, with undoubting 
gratitude and submission, the gift of his Judge's 
mercy, and the lessons of omnifont wisdom. 

If presumption and false philosophy are not 
thus expelled from the temple, or repulsed from 
the altar, they are at least checked in their bold- 
ness, and made manifest to themselves and to 
others. By these means, amidst varieties of 
creed, distinctions of sect, and fierce controver- 
sy, there has been preserved, in the great body 
of believers, a unity of faith in much that is 
most necessary for each individual to know ; 
which he who judges solely from the exterior 
aspect of the Christian world, would never supr 
pose to exist. 

21 



162 



The teacher or priest may frame to himself, 
and proclaim to the world, a corrupt and spuri- 
ous religion, debased with vain inventions and 
dark superstitions, or he may substitute his own 
theories, and what he proudly deems to be phi- 
losophy, to the simple and efficacious truths of 
Christianity ; but until he can throw off all 
respect for the authenticity of its sacred books, 
and ceases to acknowledge them as containing 
the substance of his creed, he must continue to 
declare to his people the leading parts of revela- 
tion, and the most instructive circumstances of 
its history. He must use their language, and 
clothe his opinions, however wild or extrava- 
gant, however presumptuous or sceptical, in 
sound forms of words. He may by sophistry, or 
a show of leaning, mislead many of the intelli- 
gent and well informed ; he may keep out of 
view, or mutilate, or render useless, the most 
powerful and efficacious truths of revelation ; yet 
as long as he is under this restraint, his errors, 
though not harmless, will lose some portion of 
their injurious effect. The teacher is often 
unconsciously the means ot communicating to 
others, sounder and purer knowledge than he 
possesses himself. The ignorant are in some 
degree guarded by their own weakness from, 
presumptuous speculation. The practices of 
superstition may be duly and reverently per- 



163 

formed, and remain in effect but unmeaning 
forms. In the mean while, the truths most essen- 
tial to the guidance and assistance of men per- 
form their due office, and afford to the humble 
and penitent, all that their great Author has pro- 
mised to them that seek him. 

The result of the considerations which have 
been stated, in regard to the uses and characters 
of these different kinds of evidence, then is, that 
the reception of the Christian scriptures, by the 
great body of unlearned believers, does not de- 
pend upon the arbitrary authority of men, nor 
need it rest solely upon the internal evidence 
either of the style of the sacred books, or of the 
instruction conveyed in them. It is founded 
upon the general testimony of the universal 
church, as the natural depository and guardian 
of truth, and upon her authority considered as 
expressing the united judgments of a vast num- 
ber of men in different ages and nations, known 
to be competent from education, talents, or other 
opportunities, to decide upon the facts substan- 
tiating their authority and credit. 

This is far more powerfully corroborated by 
a rational conviction of the excellence, worthi- 
ness, and usefulness of the doctrines. Upon 
this the faith is substantially founded, while its 
efficacy is made manifest to the heart and con- 
sciences of all who truly seek its aid. 



164 



The perception of truth and excellence in the 
revelation of Jesus* is level to understandings 
uncultivated by human learning, but exercised 
in the study of themselves. This perception is 
of a general nature, and differs according to the 
measure of intellectual or moral wisdom bestow- 
ed upon individuals, while the means of judging 
accurately and critically of the several heads of 
historical inquiry, of determining upon the ques- 
tions of the canonical authority of particular 
books, chapters or passages ; of deciding upon 
the true readings and other criticisms of the text, 
as well as upon its right translation, are afforded, 
though not literally to a few, yet, comparatively, 
to not very many. To these few, according to 
the universal and natural order of Providence, in 
the organization and constitution of society, is 
confided* in this, as in other important interests, 
that intellectual authority upon which most of us 
must, and in common prudence ought, to accept 
the information upon which we are compelled to 
regulate our conduct in our most momentous 
concerns. 

There is no reason to regard this as a degrad- 
ing dependence, or to consider a reliance upon 
it as at all inconsistent with good sense. It is, in 
fact, the same sort of evidence (the case is not 
cited as precisely parallel, but as strongly ana- 
logical) as that on which the great majority of the 



165 



citizens of a free state, who occasionally consult the 
statute law of the land, believe any statute or de- 
cision to be in reality the law, and not a mere for- 
gery. Few of them are competent, if an inge- 
nious doubt were raised, to prove, by any show of 
direct and positive argument, that the volume in 
their hands is really a collection of the public acts, 
passed many years ago, But they have the silent 
and irresistible testimony of all who receive and 
obey it, the authority of those who, from general 
information or professional studies, are the most 
competent judges of the matter, and the palpable 
internal evidence of probability and veracity in 
the book itself ; all of which taken together, 
amount to so strong a proof, that they not only 
exclude doubt, but even prevent the bare sugges- 
tion of it. The natural belief, so founded, is of the 
most efficient and practical sort, since we act con- 
stantly and unhesitatingly upon it, in affairs involv- 
ing our property, our liberty, and, it may be, our 
lives. 

We are all in our turns called upon to display, 
at every moment, some instance of such a rational 
submission to authority. No matter how great 
the intellectual superiority, or how universal the 
knowledge of any gifted and accomplished indi- 
vidual may be, on some subject or other, he 
must in his turn trust to the superior skill and in- 
formation of others. A spirit of contradiction to 



I6t> 

all authority and evidence, not level to our own 
judgment, is so little connected, either with men- 
tal acuteness or honest independence, that in fact 
its true spring is commonly to be found in vanity, 
in obstinacy, or in the love of singularity, usurp- 
ing the place of common sense. 

Such seem to be the different, and in some 
respects opposite, though by no means contradic- 
tory, uses and characters of the several marks 
of its veracity and power, which the Christian 
Revelation presents to man ; and I can see no 
sound reason for rejecting any of them. It is not 
wise either to go into the extreme of despis- 
ing the outward proof, or to rush into the more 
dangerous paradox of denying the possibility of 
any internal evidence, founded upon rational 
principles, and capable of being intellectually ob- 
served. 

All of these several arguments have their use 
and efficacy ; all of them are given by heaven for 
the use of mankind. Their intention and their 
final causes may be partially traced, and sound 
discretion will enable us to apply them to their 
proper objects. Though it be true in the pre- 
sent day, as in the days of David, that the Cham- 
pion of Israel may safely throw aside the massive 
armour of human warfare, when he finds it to 
cumber and impede his march, and may go forth 
without it in full confidence of victory ; yet, there 



167 



are very many occasions, when Religion lifts her 
crowned head in the temples and high places of 
the earth, and whilst the heathen rage, or those of 
her own household rebel against her, permits 
and invites all her sons, according to their seve- 
ral endowments, to defend or to adorn her throne, 
commanding, as of old, " every wise-hearted man, 
in whom the Lord had put wisdom, to work all 
manner of work for the service of the sanctuary." 



ESSAY V. 



The Critical Internal Evidence. 

When a scholar and man of taste, in the study 
of some admired work of genius, has become 
deeply interested in its history or argument, ani- 
mated by its eloquence, or touched by its senti- 
ment, he at length gradually assimilates his own 
mind to that of his favourite author, kindles with 
his fires, and feels a community with his wisdom 
and genius. 

If, whilst all these natural feelings are fresh 
and glowing, he is suddenly obliged to transfer 
his attention to the little details of verbal criti- 
cism, in settling the text of his author, or to 
some antiquarian research, necessary to clear up 
accidental obscurities, or reconcile apparent but 
unimportant contradictions, the transition is not 
merely unpleasant — it is somewhat mortifying. 
He is sensible that he is descending from a no- 
bler exercise of his faculties to one that is lower 
and meaner. 

As he feels those animating sympathies and 
sensibilities, common to our moral nature, sub- 
side ; as he recedes from the contemplation of 

22 



170 



those great principles of reason or of virtue, the 
knowledge of which gives man his rank in the in- 
tellectual creation, he finds that his soul dwin- 
dles, as it were, with the objects which employ its 
attention. He ceases to feel the ennobling and 
animating consciousness of his character as an 
intellectual and moral being, and remembers 
only that he is a linguist, a lawyer, or an anti- 
quary. 

This does not take place solely in our purely 
literary studies ; it seems to belong to a general 
law of our being. The most satisfactory, and, 
at the same time, the most gratifying employ- 
ments of the understanding, are those which 
most depend upon, or involve, general principles 
of human nature. In proportion as we fix our 
attention, and employ our faculties upon subjects 
of narrower concern, or those confined within the 
sphere of a necessarily limited portion of soci- 
ety, however useful the employment may be, the 
interest becomes less intense, and the conclu- 
sions, though not always less certain, yet of far 
less power. 

This appears to me to be peculiarly true with 
regard to the study of the several kinds of evi- 
dence of the truth of revelation. 

To turn from the moral internal evidence of 
its doctrines, to the critical internal evidence of 
its books — from the internal marks of truth in 



171 

the religion, to the internal signs of genuineness 
in the ancient writings which relate its history, 
is leaving a grander, and broader, and most 
powerful evidence, to seek for one of a lower 
class, which, though in its way sufficient, is less 
conclusive, less satisfactory, and much less im- 
pressive and efficacious. The direct and positive 
testimony of history and fulfilled predictions, 
requires also a certain degree of knowledge to 
be able to comprehend it; but the authority of 
that testimony is founded upon ordinary princi- 
ples of belief, and is therefore plain and palpable, 
and may be made intelligible to thousands. Up- 
on this, too, the mind, when once satisfied in the 
examination, can repose with confidence. It is 
otherwise with regard to a large portion of the 
critical evidence, and more especially with that 
part of it which is most strictly entitled to that 
name, and on which scholars commonly most in- 
sist. It demands a microscopic minuteness of 
examination of numerous small particulars, 
which can be given only by very acute and cul- 
tivated understandings, and, like most other in- 
quiries of the same sort, the result is argumenta- 
tive, and perhaps unanswerable proof, but sel- 
dom heartfelt conviction. 

Since, however, all that relates to the study 
or the authority of books of the Christian re- 
lation must have its use, and as many very in- 



172 

genious and deeply learned men have diligently 
collected a great mass of curious observations on 
this subject, every sketch of the Christian evi-> 
dences, however brief or general in its design, 
must be imperfect, without some notice of this 
head of proof. Above all, though the strictly criti- 
cal evidence of the authenticity of the books of 
the New Testament, is not, I think, likely to pro- 
duce much positive effect in enforcing their sin- 
cere reception, yet it surely affords materials for 
abundant and unanswerable refutation of the ob- 
jections and cavils of those who assail their his- 
torical veracity. 

Books written in the same languages and age, 
and under the same external circumstances with 
these, would of necessity contain numerous indi- 
cations of their authenticity, fitted for the examina- 
tion of the learned and critical. Considered purely 
in the light of ancient compositions, they must 
have some share of this sort of internal probabili- 
ty ; and though this be not the evidence which is 
to recommend them effectually and extensively, 
yet the absence or deficiency of such critical evi- 
dence, might lead to doubt or suspicion among 
the learned, as well as afford popular arguments 
addressed to the mass of society. 

It is my design, in the following Essay, to state, 
without entering much into particulars, what 
appear to me to be the leading principles of this 



173 



species of evidence, and how they are applica- 
ble to the consideration of this particular ques- 
tion, as relates to the New Testament, consider- 
ing the gospels and epistles simply as ancient and 
curious compositions, containing the relation of 
certain remarkable events. 

The particularity of narrations — the truth, 
ease, and naturalness of allusion to the public or 
private history of the times, to the manners of 
the age, and the customs, scenery, or other pe- 
culiarities of the country — the agreement of 
style, language, taste, and idiom to the character 
and station of the alleged authors — the cohe- 
rence of the narrative with itself — the peculiar 
tone and manner, (independently of any conside- 
ration of the matter of their relations, or their 
opinions) — all these form very strong indications 
of genuineness and veracity in any composition 
whatever. They afford clear signs of the authors 
being really what they profess to be, and, it may 
also be, of their sincere belief in the facts which 
they relate, or the opinions which they inculcate. 
Circumstances of this sort have accordingly, in a 
former Essay, been observed to constitute what I 
have there denominated the Critical Internal Evi- 
dence of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. As 
the doctrinal internal evidence must be examined 
by cautious reason, by well regulated sentiment, 
and the comparison of it with the knowledge of 
ourselves ; so this critical evidence is to be tried 



174 



by our knowledge of history, antiquities and lan- 
guages, by an acquaintance with the characters of 
men as they exhibit themselves in life and society, 
and (in some points) by natural feeling or culti- 
vated literary taste. It is very obvious, that the 
inferences to be drawn from the several points 
which have been mentioned as comprising it, do 
not end in one uniform result. They bear upon 
different, though not unconnected points of the 
argument. 

There is a well settled distinction in the Eng- 
lish law, and a very old one, though first clearly 
defined upon rational principles, and freed from 
legal subtleties, by Lord Mansfield, but to which 
something analogous must be found in every 
system of cultivated jurisprudence ;* between 
those circumstances, which affect the competen- 
cy or admissibility of any witness, and those 
which augment or impair his credit ; between 
those facts which show whether he ought to be 
heard at all, and those which indicate the de- 
gree of weight to be given to his testimony. 

The same rules, in principle, may be. applied 
to the evidence now under consideration. Much 

* The good sense of this rule could not fail to recommend it to the no- 
tice of the civil law, though I think that it has never there taken the form 
of a verbal and technical distinction. The Digest (Cap. de Teslibus) has 
several opinions and decisions as to the character of witnesses, who are 
competent — idonei testes and those who ought not to be permitted to tes- 
tify — Qucs interrogarri non placet, orpradwi won debet 



175 



of it goes simply to show that the writers of the 
gospels and epistles were not second-hand or 
hearsay witnesses, living in an after age and a 
distant country; nor to be rejected on the ground 
of the Crimen falsi, of imposture and forgery ; 
but, on the contrary, that they lived at the time 
and in the country which they speak of as their 
own, and thus were, in the strictest legal sense, 
original and competent witnesses, whatever cre- 
dit we may give to their testimony. 

There is also much to show that they were not 
only competent in their means of information, 
but also the best witnesses which could be pro- 
duced, that they delivered their testimony in the 
most natural manner, under the most solemn 
sanctions, and with striking marks of honesty and 
sincerity. They are also unimpeachable wit- 
nesses ; not to be assailed, either by the contra- 
diction of any positive external evidence, or 
on the matter furnished by cross-examination of 
themselves, and the collation of one part of their 
testimony with another ; or of their account of 
any collateral or main facts, with the evidence 
relating thereto, which may be drawn from other 
quarters. These distinctions are worth keeping 
in mind, though it is not in all cases easy to sort 
out exactly the several circumstances which bear 
upon one or the other conclusion, since there 
are many facts of a mixed nature which have 



176 



some connexion with both, and may be variously 
applied according to the bearing of the objections 
which may be raised, or the plan on which the 
inquiry is conducted. 

Nor is it easy to say with confidence, precisely 
how far the several uses of this species of evi- 
dence may reach. There are many points of it 
which can only be estimated fully by critics and 
scholars; others, the discovery of which must 
have required an intimate acquaintance with 
classical or Jewish learning, but which can now 
be stated, without losing any of their force, to the 
comprehension of any person of ordinary literary 
attainments ; others again, which rest not upon 
the comparison of particulars, so much as on the 
more general effect of manner, upon the con- 
gruity of the relation, and on the obvious ap- 
pearances of fairness and veracity. These last 
may be felt and understood by men of no uncom- 
mon degree of observation and acquaintance 
with human character and actions, without any 
share of learning whatever. 

Taking it for granted that the reader is some- 
what acquainted with the particulars composing 
this head of argument, which have been accu- 
rately collected and illustrated by many critics 
and scholars, and ably and perspicuously stated 
by Paley, and other popular writers, whose works 
are in every body's hands ; let us confine our at- 



177 



tention to the general character of such evidence., 
endeavouring to trace the principles which govern 
it, and to ascertain its true force and value. 

On the first view, it is evident to any one who 
has much attended to the manner of testimony, 
whether spoken or written, that circumstantial 
narration — digressive details — -casual mention of 
such incidental and unessential particulars as, 
though closely connected with the principal 
events, are in no wise necessary to the understand- 
ing of them, bear much more of the character of 
original relations, than that recital which confines 
itself, as is common in second-hand narration, 
and in traditionary or compiled histories, to 
broad assertions or naked statements, to relations 
in which nothing but the prominent conclusion 
appears, where the writer relates or describes, 
as it were, merely intellectually, and not with 
the feelings of one whose memory recalls the 
living and moving scene, and acts it over before 
him, as he proceeds in his account of it. Then 
it appears, on the very first glance, probable, inde- 
pendently of all other proof, that the relator was 
personally present, or that he derived his infor- 
mation immediately from some eye-witness or 
actor in the scene ; and, in this latter case, that he 
had himself such an acquaintance with the cir- 
cumstances and localities, as enabled him to en- 
ter distinctly and vividly into the feelings, and 

23 



178 



conceptions of his informant. This presumption 
springs directly from the fact of the story ap- 
pearing to be governed or connected by those 
common laws of association which are usually 
found to prevail among men. We know, from 
the observation of our own thoughts, and from 
that of the conversation of others, that an im- 
portant scene scarcely ever occurs to the me- 
mory of those who have themselves witnessed it, 
in a naked and insulated form. It is attended 
with the recollection of circumstances which 
struck the senses at the time. It is not until it 
has passed from mind to mind, that it becomes, 
as it were, abstracted from its accidental particu- 
larities, and assumes the form of history. To 
the original witness it presents itself with the 
place, the season, the bystanders, and a hundred 
other attendant circumstances accompanying or 
following its recollection. Where the narrative 
is merely historical, or where it is purely ficti- 
tious, something of this aspect maybe given to it 
by the effort of a strong and lively imagination, 
aided by a minute historical acquaintance with 
facts ; but in general, in all second-hand or false 
relations, there are far fewer and fainter appear- 
ances of those strong associations, which are 
rendered indissoluble in the memory, by the co- 
temporaneous impressions upon the senses. 

On the other hand, this particularity is sin- 
gularly distinguished from the laboured and 



179 



artificial minuteness which is very frequently 
exhibited in professed works of fiction. The 
particularity of truth, while it introduces so 
many associated circumstances, still dwells 
mainly upon prominent facts, mentioning 
other events chiefly as they are associated 
with those. It does not paint all that took 
place with a Chinese accuracy of detail, but 
sketches a bold outline, in which hundreds of 
points unessential to the general effect are omit- 
ted. The voyages of Anacharsis, or the Athe- 
nian Letters of Lord Hardwicke and his brother, 
are infinitely fuller of particular information re- 
lating to the private lives, manners and institu- 
tions of the Athenians, than the Memorabilia of 
Xenophon ; but what reader can be so dull as not 
to perceive the broad difference between the unaf- 
fected details of the ancient, and the laboured mi- 
nuteness of the French and English scholars, 
elegant and accomplished as they were ? Who 
cannot see that the ancients described such cir- 
cumstances incidentally aud collaterally ; the 
moderns by an effort of the mind expressly bent 
to that special purpose ? 

In this peculiarity, which, while it dwells na- 
turally upon secondary and unimportant particu- 
lars, never assumes the manner of minute and elab- 
orate description, very much consists that impres- 
sive expression of veracity, indescribable in words 



180 



to those who have had no experience on such 
subjects, but which every man who is called up- 
on to attend to it, is soon trained, in the com- 
merce of life, and even in the study of books, to 
feel and acknowledge. It may be partially imi- 
tated by a lively dramatic or inventive talent, or 
by fraud long practised in the ways of men ; but 
still it has a character of its own altogether 
striking and singular. 

This is not all — there is in the very fact of this 
circumstantiality of relation, this entering into 
particulars which might have been as well avoid- 
ed, when a man wishes to be believed, and does 
not describe solely for the purpose of amusement 
or impression, and especially when he relates 
circumstances which must necessarily be within 
the knowledge of others, a certain fearlessness 
of consequences, an aspect of frankness, which, 
though they may be, and occasionally are, mi- 
micked by art and hypocrisy, yet constitute the na- 
tural and unaffected physiognomy of truth. 

Without pretension or parade, without any 
indication of a secret consciousness of merited 
suspicion, it courts investigation, it invites inquiry, 
and defies doubts. He who in any matter of 
testimony touching the ordinary concerns of 
life and business, can confine his statements to 
broad and general assertions, avoids every thing 
that affords an opportunity for that collation of 



181 



testimony, which, in our common administration 
of justice, is obtained by a cross-examination. 
You have no room to detect falsehood or inac- 
curacy, by comparing one part of his evidence 
with another — you can bring nothing to refute it 
but direct and positive contradiction. The bur- 
den of proof is thrown upon him who doubts or 
denies ; and that proof is the establishment of a 
negative, of all others the most difficult. The 
affirmative testimony, as long as it remains in 
generalities, can be met and rebutted only by 
other evidence, going directly to that same gene- 
ral assertion. It is far otherwise with the minute 
and circumstantial narrator. He voluntarily re- 
linquishes this advantage. He exposes himself 
to encounter contradiction at every step. The 
truth or falsehood of the principal fact may be 
within the knowledge of but few ; all other evi- 
dence on this subject may be distant, or inacces- 
sible ; but as he enters into details and circum- 
stances — as he takes in a wider range of facts, 
opinions, and peculiarities, and as the means of 
inquiry into the truth or probability of these cir- 
cumstances are attainable, the chances of detec- 
tion, if he be an impostor, multiply upon him as 
he advances ; and this not in proportion to the 
number of circumstances he mentions, but in a 
rapidly increasing, and, we may almost say, in a 
geometrical progression. 



182 



Wherever this is done, there is always a 
presumption that it is prompted or supported 
by the full confidence of honest intention and 
accurate statements. This presumption is, 
unquestionably, far from being absolutely con- 
clusive ; but if it remain uncontradicted, it is, in 
most cases, sufficient for our satisfaction. Half 
the evidence on which litigated causes are deci- 
ded, is much of this complexion; nor can the 
historian or critic often give a better reason for 
his reliance upon the records and memoirs of 
past times. There is scarcely a book of higher 
authority, in its way, than Caesar's Commen- 
taries ; yet this single circumstance is the main 
ground of its credibility, as to every thing be- 
yond a few leading events, which are corrobora- 
ted by other history, and one or two incidental 
circumstances, which may be confirmed from 
other quarters. 

The New Testament, it is obvious, is full of 
minute circumstances, of all kinds, which, at the 
time of these books being given to the world, it 
must have been perfectly within the power of 
hundreds of friends and of foes to contradict, if 
they were false, or substantially incorrect ; and 
such a refutation of any considerable, though 
secondary assertions, would go far to shake the 
authority of the whole composition. In the sim- 
ple fact, that so many and such various chances 



183 



of contradiction were unnecessarily encountered, 
we have a strong presumption of the honesty 
and fidelity of the historians. This is, as has 
been allowed, but a presumptive or prima facie 
proof, and is, accordingly, liable to be explained 
away, as well as directly refuted ; but until that 
be done, it remains a legitimate and valid indi- 
cation of veracity. 

But the argument does not rest here. There 
are numerous direct references, and very many 
allusions to the history, laws, customs, manners, 
and opinions of the day. The style and language 
of the compositions are also peculiar, evidently 
professing to be the works of men of a particular 
education, nation, dialect, and age. Any attempt 
to forge such writings, would be exposed to great 
hazard of detection ; and this hazard must in- 
crease, in proportion as the details were more 
minute, or the facts more numerous, and of a kind 
not embodied in the public history of the age, but 
connected with the peculiarities of religions, of 
sects, cities, smaller communities, or of individuals. 
In this instance, while the main narrative touches 
on hundreds of circumstances known only to 
the Jewish people, the scene is by no means con- 
fined to the native land or residence of the wri- 
ters, but is transferred in turns to all the great 
cities of the Roman world, whilst Jewish priests, 
Roman Governors, religious and philosophical 



184 



sects and their teachers, with the common people 
of Jerusalem, Corinth, Ephesus and Athens, and 
other districts and cities of the east, are por- 
trayed simply and naturally, and circumstances 
connected with their singularities of opinions, or 
with national or provincial character, with the 
systems of Jewish, Roman or Grecian polity, with 
the religious and superstitious rites of all ; with 
their arts, with their laws, and the forms of civil 
and judicial procedure, are all in their several 
places incidentally noticed. 

Now, if these writings had descended to us 
from a dark and distant antiquity, to the his- 
tory and manners of which we had no other 
guide ; this varied circumstantiality, however 
much it might exhibit of the moral expression 
of truth, could not well be brought to the test 
of any close and rigorous examination. In 
the present case, it is far otherwise. Since the re- 
vival of classical literature in Europe, every thing 
connected with the arts, the history, the literature, 
the philosophy, and the laws of Greece and Rome, 
have been tne constant study of modern scho- 
lars, furnishing to many the main business of their 
lives, and to still more the amusement of their lei- 
sure hours. The materials for this knowledge are 
abundant on every side, in history, in literary 
compositions, in the monuments of the arts, in 
the antiquarian remains of all kinds which have 



185 



handed down to posterity the portrait and per- 
fect image of the private life and the public char- 
acter of the " Dominos terrarum, gentemque 
togatam," and of their subject conquerors, who 
yielding to their arms, ruled them by their arts, 
taste, philosophy and genius. By this means, a 
modern English or German scholar, a Porson 
or a Michaelis, is, or easily may be, more familiar 
with the laws, institutions, and customs of the 
Roman world, in the days of Tiberius, than (ex- 
cept he had actually resided or travelled in those 
countries) he could well be with those of Russia 
or South America in his own times. 

Various circumstances have singularly conspir- 
ed to this result, but the two most efficient are 
evidently these : The tendency of classical litera- 
ture to dignify and give interest in the eyes of its 
votaries, to every thing connected with subjects 
which form the basis of a learned education, and 
are interwoven with the earliest and most vivid 
associations of youthful talent and emulation : 
and next, the wide spread and long continued 
sway of the civil jurisprudence of the " Eternal 
City," by which the public reason of Rome (as it 
has been proudly, but not undeservedly called) has 
been avowedly adopted, or gradually transfused 
into the legislation of the greater part of the civil- 
ized world, and has become the common law of 
distant and independent nations on all points on 

24 



186 



which their positive municipal institutions are si- 
lent; so that the Institutes and Rescript of the Ro- 
man law, still command the respect of courts and 
senates, and are studied as a necessary part of pro- 
fessional education, by the lawyers and judges of 
the greater part of modern Europe; thus making 
familiar to their studies everything which can even 
indirectly illustrate the meaning, explain the lan- 
guage, or point out the intention of the civil code. 

The means of acquiring a minute acquaintance 
with Jewish history and antiquities are also very 
considerable. We have the Jewish scriptures 
themselves, with their several ancient versions 
and commentaries, all anterior to the Christian 
€ra. The use of these to substantiate the accu- 
racy of the writers of the New Testament is not, 
as it may appear to a careless observer, arguing in 
a circle, or employing one part of the same autho- 
rity to prove another. For it is very remarkable, 
that the external and historical authentication of 
the Jewish scriptures, is wholly distinct from that 
of the books peculiarly Christian. They are not 
only received by a people who reject the others, 
but the proof of them runs in a different litera- 
ture and through different institutions. Besides, 
few nations can boast of a more accurate and mi- 
nute historian than the Jewish annalist and apo- 
logist, Josephus ; a statesman and a man of let- 
ters, who wrote while the opinions and events of 



187 



the times described by the apostles and evange- 
lists, were still fresh ; and, indeed, while some 
of the actors in those scenes must have been yet 
living. Moreover, the Rabbinical literature, sin- 
gular as it is, and wholly uninviting to the gene- 
ral scholar, has presented a great field of curious 
inquiry and research to the labours of antiqua- 
rians and philologists. Scattered as the Jewish 
people have been to all the winds of heaven, they 
have, throughout every age, together with their re- 
ligion, preserved their language and its learning ; 
they have always had authors and scholars, and 
for many ages, colleges and a species of semina- 
ries for theological instruction.. 

Such is the minute and accurate knowledge 
which a learned inquirer may call to his aid, in 
examining the authenticity of any work profess- 
ing to have been written in that bright and clear- 
ly defined period of antiquity. On the other 
hand, there is scarcely a chapter in the New Tes- 
tament which does not afford ample opportunity 
for this critical scrutiny. The antiquarian has 
found the materials for a strict and searching in- 
vestigation and collation of collateral testimony, 
sometimes in those passages which speak of the 
public history of the age, sometimes in those 
which require to be illustrated by the principles, 
or by the technical and arbitrary rules of proce- 



188 



dure of the civil law ;* and sometimes in minute 
and wholly unessential circumstances, like the 
allusion to the restless curiosity, and fantastical 
superstitions of the Athenian populace, the chain, 
the cloak and parchments of St. Paul, and the 
slight and unimportant incidents of his naviga- 
tion and shipwreck. Throughout the whole of 
these inquiries, all has been found congruous with 
history, law and antiquities, and every examina- 
tion of this sort has uniformly gone to confirm 
the truth of the narrative. 

Some few apparent difficulties have occurred, 
and these, when finally cleared up, have, in fact, 
afforded new and unexpected illustrations of the 
veracity and honesty of their writers, who, in the 
simplicity of unstudied truth, with their mind bent 
on their principal objects, did not stop to guard 
against the suspicion of deception or forgery, to 
clear up obscurities, or to obviate possible objec- 
tions. 

The style^nd language of these books, affords 
other, and still more decisive marks of their au- 
thenticity. 

This is a very common method of ascertaining 
the genuineness of literary works ; and both 

* Huber, one of the greatest authorities in continental and public law, 
is among those who have particularly examined this subject, and pointed . 
out the agreement of the several incidental notices of civil and crim- 
inal proceedings with the forms of justice among the Romans. 



189 



classical and modern literary history, will afford 
numerous examples of the curious and minute ac- 
curacy of which such investigations are suscepti- 
ble, either for the removal of doubt or the detec- 
tion of forgery. The Greek of the New Testa- 
ment is such as could only have been written by 
men of a certain education, nation, and age. 
Greek was then, as French is now in Europe, the 
universal language of business and literature ; 
and, like the French of our own day, it was written 
and spoken even by many of those who used it 
fluently and habitually, with no small admixture 
of national or provincial idioms and dialects. 
Accordingly critics have shown, minutely and 
clearly, that the style of the Greek Testament is 
modified by various causes. Among these are the 
Hellenistic idiom, or the peculiar Hebrew-Greek 
language, in use among the Jews born and resi- 
ding in those cities of the empire where the 
eastern tongues were not generally spoken, 
which often expresses Hebrew thoughts and 
phrases in Greek words, and takes the colour 
of its style from the Septuagint version of 
the Old Testament, somewhat in the same 
manner as that of the old puritans did from 
our English Bible. — The influence of opinions 
prevalent among the Jews, affecting the lan- 
guage with phrases whose meaning is drawn 
from Rabbinical opinions. — The not unfrequenf 



190 



use of Latinisms, especially in military terms, and 
titles of office ; being a necessary consequence, 
from the supremacy of the Roman government, 
the establishment of Roman military posts, and 
the residence of Romans of dignity and authority 
in the provinces ; and, in addition to these — The 
various dialects of their own country, or of other 
neighbouring eastern nations, which would na- 
turally creep into use among those who spoke 
Greek as a language of business, and were not 
scrupulous of its elegance or purity — hence fre- 
quent Hebraisms, and occasional Chaldaisms f 
Syricisms, Arabisms, &c. 

This accumulation of idiomatic peculiarities, 
fixes the age and country of the writers very deci- 
dedly. In the writings of St. Paul, ancient verbal 
criticism has gone yet further, and has observed 
that while his ordinary style, when arguing on 
the doctrines of his faith, has all the marked pe- 
culiarities of the Hebrew-Greeks, he some- 
times falls into Cilicisms, or the local idioms of 
the province of Cilicia, in which he was born, in- 
telligible enough, but not in common use in other 
parts of the empire. Besides, it is observable, 
that he gives evidence of a learned educa- 
tion, by the greater purity of his language when 
addressing a Roman tribunal, or an Athenian au- 
dience, on which occasions he speaks much such 
Greek as we find in Xenophon. 



191 



The reader, unskilled in the ancient languages, 
may gain some idea of the nature of the evidence 
which is thus afforded, if we were to suppose that 
some literary or political composition, or state 
paper, in the French language were now to ap- 
pear anonymously, and it became a question of 
great public interest to ascertain the source from 
which it proceeded ; that a competent critic, 
versed in the delicacies of the French language, 
and well acquainted with others, should point out 
numerous Anglicisms, which should show that it 
could not have been written by any one who was 
not in the habit of speaking English — phrases 
deriving their force or meaning from the local 
laws and civil institutions of the United States — 
idioms peculiar to Virginia or New-England — 
some traces of Spanish idioms, and finally other 
provincialisms less marked. It is quite obvious, 
that if the composition were of sufficient length, 
and the circumstances sufficiently numerous, we 
might come to the most undoubted conclusion, 
from such internal evidence, that the author was 
an American, born or educated in New-England, 
and who had learnt his French in New-Orleans. 

The degree of certainty in any such case, de- 
pends of course upon the number, variety, and the 
delicacy, as well as distinctness of such marks ; 
but when by these means the case is well made 
out, the true character of the composition may be 



192 



most decisively established in the minds of all 
competent judges. 

In this case, no scholar who has studied the 
subject, whether he embraces the revelation or 
not, can well entertain any doubt that these 
books were written by persons of the age and na- 
tion ascribed to their reputed authors. 

Consequently, they are original historians, and ? 
in the language of the law, competent witnesses. 
Did they then recount only historical events, of 
no personal interest to us, however remarkable 
they might be, we should of course rest here, and 
believe these accounts, thus given by several co- 
temporary writers corroborating one another, just 
as we do the Annals of Tacitus, a writer whose au- 
thenticity is not more clearly shown by internal 
marks of style, while the external testimony to the 
genuineness of his works is, in comparison of 
their's, most slight and trivial. But the high im- 
port of their story, invites and compels to a more 
severe scrutiny. 

If, then, in all this accurate sifting, this minute 
and critical examination, not only of the positive 
allegations, but of the assumptions, hints, and al- 
lusions of those historians — an examination in 
which the friends of their cause have been even 
more rigid than their enemies ; and they have cer- 
tainly never wanted enemies, learned, acute and 
deeply hostile— an examination in which every 



193 



word has been considered, every statement ana- 
lyzed and collated with cotemporary authorities, 
and with other parts of their own writings ; if, in all 
this, nothing like palpable falsehood is detected, 
what ought to be the legitimate conclusion with 
regard to the credibility of those wridngs, so am- 
ply attested to be genuine ? Is it purely nega- 
tive 1 Does it go no further than that nothing 
yet appears to contradict and refute this history ? 
Is it not rather positive and affirmative, that these 
men spoke what they knew and testified to what 
they believed ? If the story is thus confirmed in 
all its minor particularities, there is the strongest 
presumption that it could not have been fabrica- 
ted, and the supposition of its entire truth, is the 
most reasonable solution of the fact of this agree- 
ment. 

But it may be asked, could not some ingenious 
writer, accurately and extensively skilled in the an- 
tiquities, language, dialect and manners of those 
times and places have forged such a work, and set- 
ting an imaginary picture in aframeof real history, 
have made the whole consistent with all the infor- 
mation which we can gain from other sources con- 
cerning those matters ? We know, for instance, 
the dramatic effect, and the momentary delusion, 
frequently produced by the great antiquarian no- 
velist of our own days, who has so vividly portrayed 
the manners of England and Scotland. We allre- 

25 



194 

collect, too, the air of artless honesty and matter- 
of-fact plainness which Defoe could give to hie 
homely but picturesque and fascinating narra- 
tives, as displayed in his Robinson Crusoe, his rela- 
tion of the plague of London, and his Memoirs of a 
Young Cavalier. Could not this be carried a lit- 
tle further, so that this delusion would be com- 
plete, and then the argument would fall at once 
to the ground ? 

In reply to this supposition, which, taken sim- 
ply and without relation to the exterior historical 
testimony, is not without some plausibility, it 
may be remarked, first of all, that this particular- 
ity is not presumed or asserted to be in itself, and 
alone, a complete and unanswerable demonstra- 
tion of veracity. It is but a part of our evidence. 
It is a mark of truth which we may expect to find, 
although it might be conceded, that it may not 
be such as wholly to defy imitation. But we 
must take this in conjunction with other and 
more positive evidence, as well that springing 
from the nature of the doctrines inculcated, as 
that which is strictly historical ; and thus suppo- 
sing this to amount to but a probability in itself, 
still, taken in conjunction with other probabilities, 
it swells into an irrefragable testimony. Be- 
sides, allowing the possibility of such a power 
of matchless imitation and forgery, it is still but 
a mere and very improbable possibility ; and the 



195 



same argument may be urged against the most 
powerful complication of human testimony, or 
the authority of any history, or any books what- 
ever. It is, therefore, an argument purely scep- 
tical. It is a possibility of delusion against posi- 
tive proof, insinuating & doubt, but deciding 
nothing. 

But after these preliminary views, which will 
show that, giving the difficulty its fullest force, 
it is not very formidable, we may proceed to 
meet it still more decidedly* 

So far as relates to the authentic character of 
any books, and the credit of their narrative in the 
main, (for we well know that a genuine and true 
narrative may colour and distort particular facts) 
all experience teaches us to deny the existence 
hitherto of any such power of fictitious narrative, 
so consistent throughout, so correct in so many 
points, and those so exceedingly minute. A hasty 
and careless perusal, such as we give to ordinary 
works of fiction, might lead us to suppose that 
with a little more of pains or skill, the deception 
could be carried to a pitch of excellence which 
would defy detection. But it is not so.. Litera- 
ry history has preserved the record of many for- 
geries, which have been attempted with no small 
ability and address, such as those of Chatterton, 
of the poems ascribed by him to Rowley, a 
Bristol priest of the fourteenth century, written 



196 



in an antiquated dialect of his own language, 
and laying the scene of them in and about his 
own venerable native city, with whose numerous 
antiquities he had been familiar from his child- 
hood. Ireland's forgeries of the Shakspeare 
papers is another more recent example. In both 
of these instances the subject of imitation was 
exceedingly limited ; all minute matters of fact, 
all particular historical and legal allusions were 
wholly avoided, and the attempt was confined to 
a successful imitation of the style, idioms and 
opinions of the ancient author. Yet, in both 
these cases, and in twenty similar ones which 
might be cited, many bearing upon English and 
French politics and history, some in classical li- 
terature, and not a few in early ecclesiastical wri- 
tings, the forgery was not only detected, but un- 
answerably and openly exposed, to the satisfac- 
tion of every man of ordinary intelligence and 
competent information. 

Judging from all past experience it seems to 
be wholly impossible that any author, however 
ingenious, however familiar with the manners 
of other times or places, should completely trans- 
port himself out of the circle of his habitual as- 
sociations. These have become a part of his 
very mind; they enter into the substance of all his 
thoughts, and will inevitably communicate more 
or less of their own colouring to his assumed 



wi 

character. Moreover, minor facts and small details 
will often escape his attention ; nor can he always 
retain every circumstance which may be known to 
him, constantly present to his mind, nor keep the 
whole chain of his composition always in view, so 
as to make it throughout uniformly and natural- 
ly consistent with itself. Some oversight will in- 
fallibly occur to mark the stranger, to lift the 
mask and betray the impostor. 

The circumstance may oftentimes be very tri- 
vial, but the more trivial in its nature, the more 
likely it is to escape the notice of the writer. 

An example of this in one of our own authors 
occurs to me, which may seem frivolous, but it will 
illustrate my meaning better than an instance 
drawn from a more recondite source. In one of 
his late works,* Washington Irving has introdu- 
ced atale describing the peculiar manners and the 
appearance of the city and colony of New-York, 
about a hundred years ago. Now the great ob- 
ject of such a story is to keep up the exact an- 
cient costume, and whether the aim of the author 
be deception, by passing off his fiction for a true 
narrative, or only to produce the momentary de- 
lusion of an interesting poem or romance, what- 
ever tends to destroy this unity, is contrary to 
the plan of the author, and so far frustrates his 



* Bracebridge Hall. 



198 



intention. In this tale, among other unintention* 
al violations of costume, one of his personages is 
made to use an umbrella ; but it happens that 
this invention of eastern luxury is well known 
not to have been introduced among our Dutch 
and English ancestors until sixty or seventy 
years ago, and was never seen in this colony un- 
til long after the date of Irving's story. 

Little anachronisms of this sort, and similar in- 
congruities of language, things trifling in them- 
selves, but powerful in their evidence, crowd the 
works of every writer who attempts to portray the 
manners of different ages and countries, however 
little removed from his own, for any purpose of 
delusion, whether innocent and momentary, as 
in fictitious writing, or deliberate and fraudulent ; 
and it is by these things that a sure clue to the 
detection of wilful and skilful impostures, like 
those of Chatterton and Ireland, has always been 
furnished. 

The curious and critical discussions which 
have taken place respecting the authorship of 
Junius, may supply a strong analogical instance 
of the manner in which casual allusions, mis- 
takes of carelessness or ignorance, and slight cir- 
cumstances of style, language and opinion, fur- 
nish indications to the critic of the character of an 
author. These, if not always sufficient (as from 
want of satisfactory data, they may not be) to as- 



199 



certain the true author of any composition ; yet, 
if diligently examined, will commonly be found 
strong enough to exclude erroneous claimants, 
and to detect imposition.* 

The nearest approach to perfection in this 
close imitation of simple narrative, is, unquestion- 
ably, the Robinson Crusoe of Defoe; but then 
this is a narrative founded upon fact, the fic- 
titious writer is of the same time, nation, and 
rank of life, as the real one, and the author has 
only filled up the outline of truth which he pos- 
sessed, with the colours of an imagination fertile 
and picturesque beyond example, in the details 
of homely and ordinary particularities. The sto- 
ry is an insulated one, connected with nothing 



■* Many of these indicia, which literary curiosity, sharpened by politi- 
cal feeling-, have hunted out, are very curious, and often prove conclusively 
who Junius was not. The whole inquiry is full of instruction, as to the 
nature and force of circumstantial and internal evidence. The celebrated 
Dunning- was at one time justly regarded as the most probable author, but 
it has been shown, that Junius was probably not professionally a lawyer, 
from the inaccuracy of his incidental legal allusions, though when wri- 
ting expressly on legal points, he discovers no small learning and abili- 
ty. In his dedication he says : " The power of King, Lords and Commons 
is not an arbitrary power. They are the trustees, not the owners, of the 
estate. The fee-simple is in us." " Now," remarks Butler, the annotator 
on Coke, " in all trusts of the inheritance, the fee is in the trustees." Hence 
it may be reasonably inferred that this could not have been written by a 
man who had spent his life in Westminster Hall ; though it might have been 
by some lawbred man not familiarly accustomed to the language of the 
law. Nor could this be the effect of art, for independently of the natural- 
ness of the inaccuracy, Junius never avoided the direct discussion of legal 
topics when they came in his way. 



200 



and leading to no results. We therefore read it 
with little disposition to inquire into its exact- 
ness or probability. 

Nothing depends on its being true or false ; 
but if its reception, as true, involved any conse- 
quence whatever, (I will not say that of receiving 
the faith and obeying the precepts of a pure and 
self-denying religion, but even the support of a 
political party, or the adopting certain rules of 
taste or behaviour,) there can be little doubt that a 
close comparison of the story with other exter- 
nal facts, such as might be gathered from our 
knowledge of navigation, geography, and the na- 
tural history of the country where the scene is 
laid, would at once make the fictitious part pal- 
pable and prominent. 

But let us turn to the New Testament, read it 
'tis a common book of memoirs, and observe how 
multiplied and complicated the chance of such 
errors would be, were it the work of imposture. 
Consider what a degree not merely of knowledge, 
but of intimate familiarity and universal acquaint- 
ance with the learning, laws, languages, arts, and 
history of Palestine, and the whole Roman world* 
you must ascribe to the authors of these compo- 
sitions, unless they are true. Is this at all pro- 
bable ? May we not ask, is this possible ? For 
if it be possible, it is but barely so, and, as we 



201 

have just seen, contradicts all past experience in 
similar and analogous cases. 

Besides this strong probability of error in the 
work of an impostor, arising from ignorance or 
inattention, there is another striking characteris- 
tic of truth, which has been before slightly touch- 
ed upon. It consists entirely in manner, and is 
rarely attained by the most skilful imitator. 
When a writer labours to give a semblance of 
truth, by filling up the particularities of the scene, 
by describing localities, interweaving cotempo- 
rary history or anecdote, or dressing out his fable 
in the costume of the times, no matter what his 
talent may be, no matter how great his familiari- 
ty with the history and manners he paints, if that 
familiarity be gathered from the study of the clo- 
set, or from any secondary source of information, 
he always, to a certain degree, fails in his effect. 
The mimicry may be most ingenious, and, as 
mimicry, perfectly successful, but it does not 
amount to deception. Like the learned stran- 
ger, who betrayed his being a foreigner, in the 
Athenian market, by his over scrupulous purity 
of the Attic idiom, he will certainly show the 
sources of his knowledge by his over minuteness, 
and the half antiquarian air which he gives to 
his performances. He describes rather than al- 
ludes, and labours many an accessary incident as 
faithfully as he does the most considerable, 

26 



202 



It is not easy to give an idea of this without 
examples; but try the experiment of compari- 
son, and nothing can be more obvious. 

Take an instance from the antiquarian poems 
and novels of Walter Scott. Independently of 
their great merits in other regards, they are cer- 
tainly very admirable for their vivid accuracy of 
descriptionin the details of chivalric pomp and 
costume. But observe critically the manner of 
these descriptions, the precise minuteness, and, 
(with all their truth,) their want of ease — com- 
pare them with the descriptions given by the 
same author of general nature, with his sketches 
of modern manners, with his fuller pictures of 
his own countrymen, or the still more glowing 
passages in which he portrays the workings of 
the passions common to the human race, or of 
opinions which have spread their control over 
sects and nations. Every man habituated to 
literary criticism may feel, that in the one case 
the author writes from his own intimate and im- 
mediate knowledge ; that in the other, by a 
strong effort of the imagination, he artificially 
throws into a dramatic form the accurate and 
minute knowledge which he had compiled from 
books, pictures, traditions, ancient armour, ruins, 
and all those beautiful and interesting remains 
of the arts of the middle ages, which abound in 
Great-Britain. 



203 

The same laws which govern the composition 
of writings professedly fictitious, must prevail in 
others of a graver character. On these prin- 
ciples the scholar at once observes the contrast 
between an ancient author and his modern iim> 
tator or continuator, however eloquent or learned 
the latter may be, and though he may be equally 
correct as to his facts — between Livy and Fran- 
sheimius, for instance, or between Lucan and 
May. 

It is this manner of truth, so indescribable, yet 
so vivid, this unstudied, confident, and natural 
familiarity of reference to so many circumstan- 
ces, which gives a tenfold effect to the more posi- 
tive corroborations of the truth of the scripture 
history which have been drawn from the inqui- 
ries of the learned. 

All this will not prove the certainty of the 
facts related, but it is a sure evidence of the gen- 
uineness of the history. It gives to it the attes- 
tation of its being cotemporaneous and origi- 
nal authority ; it shows that the writers had the 
very feelings and knowledge of the times, and 
therefore that the age and country which they 
claim are truly theirs. 

These arguments are so far addressed mainly 
to critics and persons of reading, and they are not 
without something of that unsatisfactory coldness 
which generally accompanies purely critical in-* 



204 



quiries, and can therefore bear no sort of com- 
parison, either in power of impression or ex- 
tent of usefulness, with plain and positive his- 
torical attestation, and still less, in my view, with 
the moral evidence ; yet in their way they are 
quite conclusive. 

Not one of the works of the ancient historians, 
nor in fact any of the remains of Grecian or Ro- 
man learning, has much other attestation of gen- 
uineness than such strong internal probabilities. 

The books of the Christian Revelation are 
supported by the evidence of a whole library of 
unquestionably ancient writings, not only repeat- 
edly citing passages from them, but wholly 
founded upon their narrative or doctrines; by 
translations of them into different ancient lan- 
guages, scattered over the world; by the consent 
of contending sects and parties, who, neither in the 
earliest nor in the fiercest periods of religious 
discord, ever dared to reject their authori- 
ty, but strove to explain them so as to suit 
their own opinions ; above all, by the conces- 
sions of learned, and acute, and embittered ad- 
versaries like Celsus and Julian, who were com- 
pelled to allow their authenticity. Still higher is 
their evidence from the fact of these books be- 
ing statedly read in the public assemblies, at 
least once a week, from the earliest times, and 
the further confirmation of the same kind 3 which 



205 



they gain from almost daily rites and usages, and 
from prevalent opinions, growing out of them, 
handed down from generation to generation ; thus 
combining that living witness of oral tradition 
and usage, upon which unlettered communities 
always mainly rely, with that of written history. 

But such works as the history of Josephus or 
that of Tacitus, have comparatively nothing of 
this external proof. The casual mention of the au- 
thor's name, a transient criticism, or a brief quo- 
tation in some other ancient writings, and these 
by no means forming a regular and closely linked 
chain of testimony, is all that is to be gathered in 
their support from other quarters. But the criti- 
cal evidence of language, sentiment, congruity 
with history and antiquity, of opinion, and, 
more than that, of manner in narration, is per- 
fectly decisive. No man of sense expresses, or 
can ever transiently feel, any doubt as to their 
genuineness, and their general admissibility as 
good authorities for the history of their age. 

Yet all these peculiarities, which are so con- 
vincing, are less numerous, and much less mark- 
ed, than those of the same class, to be traced in 
the books of the New Testament. 

Nor does this hold good only with regard to 
ancient history. It would be easy to give many 
still more striking instances from modern times. 
During the last thirty or forty years, it has re- 



206 



peatedly occurred that a manuscript, purporting 
to have been written by some distinguished per- 
son, was accidentally discovered, after having lain 
in obscurity ever since it was written. The indi- 
cations of its authenticity from its language, style, 
and narrative, are frequently such as not only to 
procure its general reception, but to give to it at 
once the highest rank as historical testimony. 
Such has been the case with Evelyn's Memoirs ; 
with those of Mrs. Hutchinson ; with the life of 
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, by himself ; and, in 
our own country, with the Journal of GovernoF 
Wmthrop. 

If these books have such evidence they must 
be authentic — they must have been written by 
persons of Jewish descent, living in the first age 
of Christianity, and in the countries in which it 
was first proclaimed, who were intimately ac- 
quainted with the scenes they narrated. 

This position once established, a new inference 
opens clearly upon us, which it is very important 
to remark, as it distinguishes these histories from 
all others. 

When we have ascertained the works of Hero- 
dotus or Livy to be genuine, it by no means fol- 
lows, that all, or the principal events they nar- 
rate, are true. They speak often of incidents 
which were remote from their own times, or 
within the knowledge of a small circle only, or 
entirely unconnected with other history. 



207 



Or, allowing that they are entitled to all credit 
as history, we may fully rely upon Livy for 
his narrative of wars and political commotions; 
but when he tells us of marvels and prodigies, 
that an ox spoke, or that it rained a shower of 
stones, " locutus bos," or " lapidibus pluit," we 
have a right, without risking the i mputation of 
inconsistency, or perverse scepticism, to look 
upon so much of his story as fabulous, or else to 
resolve his miracles, (as is more probable,) into 
exaggerated natural phenomena. 

Not so with the gospels and epistles. Their 
whole story is so interwoven, the whole narrative 
turns so much throughout upon the one point of 
the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, that if the 
books were written by men of that day, and then 
given to the world, and received as true by the 
first believers, and uncontradicted in those facts 
necessarily open to the examination of every 
Christian of those times, the main facts must al- 
so be true. You cannot, as in other histories, 
reject the wonderful and receive the probable ; 
but it all hangs together. If miracles were not 
performed, Paul and Peter would not have 
taught, and toiled, and suffered ; churches would 
not have been gathered ; persecutions would not 
have been endured. If the latter facts, as assert- 
ed in these books, did take place, they establish 
the character of the witnesses to the former. If 



203 



the high and rigid morality of this volume was 
published authoritatively at that time, it could 
not have been invented and proclaimed by-knaves 
or fools* All the principles, all the motives em- 
bodied in the doctrines there set forth, are utter- 
ly inconsistent with imposture. If the facts im- 
mediately falling within the knowledge of those 
to whom these writings were originally address- 
ed, were admitted by them, these are sufficient ; 
for they can only be accounted for by the admis- 
sion of the truth of the principal facts, which are 
referred to on all occasions, as the foundation 
of the whole. 

The life of Benvenuto Cellini, the celebrated 
Florentine artist, in which that original and ver- 
satile genius has graphically depicted his own 
daring, restless, superstitious, dissolute, and en- 
ergetic character, the history of his wild adven- 
tures, and his admirable labours, and of the man- 
ners and arts of the age, is filled with strong in- 
ternal signs of authenticity ; but this proves little, 
as to the probability of the marvellous incidents 
he relates, or the bold feats of which he boasts. 
Granting the book to have been written by Cel- 
lini himself, we have yet but his single authority 
for the fact, that it was he who killed the Consta- 
ble Bourbon, in the assault upon Rome, or for 
the terrific story of his magical incantations 
amongst the ruins of the Colliseum. 



209 



The fact of the acknowledged genuineness of 
Cellini's book, does not make his countrymen and 
cotemporaries fellow-witnesses with him to his 
story. The facts were not within their knowledge, 
nor, if they had been, were they of such a nature 
as to give ground for the fair presumption, that 
every cotemporary reader who read the book 
as genuine, assented to its truth throughout. 

Granting that the book was generally known 
and read at the time, yet no one was called up- 
on to express any opinion as to its truth or false- 
hood ; no one was induced to act upon the faith 
of any of its representations. 

How different is it with the books of the New 
Testament. The proof of their authenticity and 
preservation involves the fact of their reception 
as true by the first societies of Christians. That 
reception was not, and nonld not. be, cold, unin- 
quiring, indifferent. It was not the barren and 
lifeless assent with which we now read a news- 
paper narrative of things that concern us not ; 
but it was a reception changing their earliest 
and most deeply rooted opinions, repressing the 
strongest passions, exposing them certainly to 
privations, contempt and obloquy, not improba- 
bly to calamity, persecution or death. If the 
epistles of Paul are genuine, then it clearly fol- 
lows that those to whom they were addressed, 
bear witness with him to many facts which must 

27 



210 



have been within their own knowledge. The 
Christians of Corinth, Collosse and Thessaloni- 
ca, rise up, as it were, from their tombs, to attest 
to the personal character of their apostle, his self- 
denial, his purity, perseverance, zeal, and cou- 
rage ; the hardships and poverty he endured, the 
labours he underwent, the dangers he braved— 
to the moral character of the doctrine which he 
proclaimed, and its efficient moral influence 
among themselves ; and, finally, to the miraculous 
power which he exerted in attestation of his 
mission, and to which he appeals, in addressing 
the very persons before whom he alleges them 
to have been displayed. 

Now these are not solitary and insulated inci- 
dents, for, throughout all of them, a clear testimo- 
ny to the main facts of the gospel history is in- 
terwoven. From that one point they all begin, 
and thither they all tend. The proof of the ve- 
racity of Paul alone proves all the rest. The 
same argument holds good throughout. If these 
writings are authentic, then we have the testimo- 
ny of eight original witnesses. Internal and exter- 
nal evidence, both of the strongest kind, combine 
to prove the fact of these writings being from 
several and distinct hands ; and these several 
witnesses are not mere historians, but persons 
deeply interested in the transactions which they 
relate or allude to> and affording to their testi- 



211 



mony the highest sanctions, both direct and in- 
direct, by voluntary privations, labours and suf- 
ferings, undergone to attest their firm belief in 
what they testified. These men, in the course of 
that testimony, refer to numerous other facts with- 
in the knowledge of multitudes of their cotempo- 
raries, who believed their instruction and sub- 
mitted to their guidance, and many of whom 
proved their firm belief in those facts, by under- 
going the same hardships and dangers. Such a 
circumstance as the general reception by those 
competent judges to whom an appeal is made in 
the work itself, in any ordinary history, goes ve- 
ry far to establish the general character of the 
writer's veracity ; but the remarkable fact which 
distinguishes these books from others, is, that so 
many of these secondary and derivative incidents 
mentioned in them, necessarily depend upon, 
and do alone decidedly prove, the main facts of 
the narrative, and the great foundation of the 
narration. Once admit that these writings are 
genuine, and that they were believed in the 
ages and places in which they were published, 
and the burden of proof as to their truth or false- 
hood is removed from the Christian to the scep- 
tic. It is then for the objector to show how, under 
such circumstances, it was possible that these 
writings could have been false, and yet held sa- 
cred by congregations of Christians in the days 
of the apostles, or of their immediate successors. 



212 



This reception must not be confounded with 
the adoption of opinions, or of articles of faith, or 
with the belief of facts alleged to have taken place 
in other times or countries. All this proves no- 
thing but the naked fact, that such opinions were 
thought probable. But the silent acknowledg- 
ment of the truth of events asserted to have oc- 
curred amongst themselves, and before their own 
eyes, is widely dhTerent. We know, from other 
sources of information, that there unquestionably 
did exist such bodies of men, and their re- 
ception of the books which criticism and ancient 
learning prove to have been written in that age, 
and in those countries, authenticates the facts 
related in them. 

Such is one of the most important practical 
results to be deduced from the critical evidence, 
so far as it vindicates the authenticity of the 
scriptures by means of the aids furnished by the 
knowledge of language, history and antiquities, 
and the scrutiny of refined and practised taste, 
and enlightened criticism. 

If these ancient writings told us of events and 
transactions similar to those of common history, 
however remarkable or romantic they might be, 
we should look upon their evidence as alone con- 
clusive. Scholars would be satisfied with it, and 
the mass of readers, on their authority, would re- 
ceive them without a question. Now add to this 



213 



the direct and the corroborative, historical and 
literary testimony, and the proof becomes won- 
derfully strong. Whether we consider it as po- 
sitive and direct, or as multiplied and complica- 
ted, or as inartificial and circumstantial, it is alike 
powerful. 

To the whole of this, it can only be replied by 
those, who, after any kind of examination, reject 
the revelation, that the facts related are so much 
against the course of nature and uniform experi- 
ence, as to be utterly incredible. Allow this to 
be true, and yet the difficulty is not solved, nor 
any sufficient answer given to the argument. 

If the facts related are contrary to all experi- 
ence, it is also against long and uniform experi- 
ence, that such, and so much, and so independ- 
ent evidence should be false ; that such and so 
many signs of authenticity, and marks of truth, 
should be erroneous ; that such and so many sin- 
gular results should have been produced in the 
world by unaccountable delusion. It must still 
remain a violent contest of opposite improba- 
bilities. If miracles are disbelieved solely because 
they are miraculous, we must then, on the other 
hand, yet assent to what, if not a miracle, is so 
contrary to the uniform experience of mankind, 
as fully to deserve the name of a prodigy. 

But, in truth, the apparent incredibility of the 
miraculous parts of Christian history, arises (so 



214 



far as the intellect alone is concerned) from the 
same cause with much other error of all kinds 
— the careless or the wilful consideration of the 
subject in one narrow point of view without regard 
to the connection in which it stands with others. 
If these events are considered only as naked and 
quite insulated facts, the mind, unquestionably, 
finds a difficulty in receiving them, upon any, 
even the strongest, evidence. So strong is our 
natural confidence in the permanence and regu- 
larity of the ordinary laws of nature, under ordi- 
nary circumstances, that I am not certain, that 
* many thinking men would not feel something of 
the same difficulty, in trusting to the authority of 
their own memory for the belief of such wonder- 
ful events. 

But if these interruptions or suspensions of 
the customary laws of nature, are not regarded 
as unmeaning and unaccountable marvels and 
prodigies, but are ascribed to an adequate 
cause ; if that cause be the will of the Author 
and Founder of these laws, exerting his power 
over them for an end which we ourselves may 
see to be adequate, this difficulty ceases at once, 
and testimony resumes its full and legitimate 
power. No ingenuity of argument can convince 
a man of plain and sound understanding, that it 
is impossible for the Creator to interfere with, 
or suspend, or wholly change, the ordinary laws 



215 



©f his creation, for any purpose which is worthy 
of him. 

But, that the purpose of revelation was worthy 
of him, we may learn from the examination of 
the religion itself. Thus again, from whatever 
point we may commence our inquiries, it is to 
the character and objects of the religion itself, 
that we must at last turn, to be fully satisfied of 
its just authority. 

In the above brief view of the nature of this 
evidence, it has been considered wholly with re- 
ference to its application to the books of the 
New Testament. Those of the Old Testament 
contain abundant evidence of the same sort. 
The materials of that inquiry are less generally 
accessible, being drawn from a more recondite 
learning, from languages which are less criti- 
cally understood, and from a more distant anti- 
quity, whose manners, usages, and habits of 
thinking differed widely from ours ; but the 
principles upon which that examination should 
be made, and the inferences to be deduced, are, 
throughout, similar to those above stated. 



ESSAY VI. 



*The Internal Evidence arising from Congruity of Narrative 
and Character — from Style and Manner. Remarks upon 
the Connection of the partial Obscurities of Scripture, 
with its probable Uses and Intentions. 

The argument of which it has been attempted 
to state the outline and bearing in the preced- 
ing Essay, draws most of its materials, directly 
or indirectly, from familiarity with books, and 
from learning in ancient languages and history. 
There is, besides this, another species of criti- 
cism, which is founded upon a learning of a 
widely different kind ; a learning not drawn 
from books, but acquired in the commerce of the 
world by the observation of mankind, and the 
habitual exercise of natural sagacity and good 
sense. 

In these investigations, common sense and 
patient attention, united with some sensibility to 
the plain and unaffected expression of sincerity, 
earnestness, good faith, and warm feeling, are 
the only guides required to enable us to ascer- 
tain truth and honesty. For such criticism the 
books of the Christian Revelation, and espe- 
cially the gospels and epistles, furnish abundant 

28 



218 



employment. Among various other points of 
inquiry to which this may be directed, it may be 
employed upon the comparison of the history 
with itself, and may trace out the natural and un- 
designed coincidences, and the unstudied harmony 
of all its particulars ; or it may mark the develop- 
ment and the consistency of the characters de- 
scribed or alluded to, and may compare the ac- 
counts given of the alleged authors, with the in- 
dications or manifestations of their dispositions, 
turns of mind, and habits of thought, which ap- 
pear in their writings ; or it may lead us to stu- 
dy, as it were, the moral physiognomy of the 
whole volume, that indescribable manner which 
assures us of truth and sincerity, or, on the other 
hand, cautions us to stand on our guard against 
craft, art, and hypocrisy. 

The comparison of a story with itself, by col- 
lating one relation or part of a relation with 
another, constitutes a test of truth which is eve ry 
day had recourse to in our courts of justice, and 
not unfrequently in our political discussions. 

It is a test which the suborned and perjured 
witness, whose fallacies, like those of the unfair 
and sophistical logician, are most safe from 
detection, while shrouded in vague and broad, 
or in unconnected desultory statements, if he 
has any skill or discretion, always, if possible, 
avoids. This investigation, so far as it relates to 



219 



the matters of fact touching the life and charac- 
ter of St. Paul, has been pursued by Dr. Paley, 
in his Horse Paulinae, in a most original vein of 
thought, with a truly lawyer-like sagacity of ob- 
servation, and a most logical collation of remote 
and delicate circumstantial evidence. He has 
followed out this thread of probability in such a 
way as to show, that if the Acts of the Apostles, 
and the Epistles of Paul, were now to be discov- 
ered in manuscript, in some old library, and to 
come to us without any extrinsic or collateral 
testimony, that " this circumstantial agreement 
would afford good reason to believe the persons 
and transactions to have been real, the letters au- 
thentic, and the narrative in the main to be 
true." From this examination and close compari- 
son, he shows conclusively, that whilst these 
several writings are distinct and independent 
documents, they harmonize in the same history, 
not only in substance, but in allusions, references, 
hints, and indistinct notices, often requiring the 
collation of three or four separate passages in 
different works for their comprehension, all 
dropping casually from the pen of the, writer* 
without any appearance of plan or studied con- 
sistency, nor yet possibly to, be accounted for by 
accident, unless they were founded in truth. 

It is not the plain and direct agreement of 
the several narrations with each other, which con- 



220 



stitutes the force and justness of this argument, 
but it lies in those which are clearly natural and 
unintentional coincidences, where the consisten- 
cy of facts, and the coherence of the whole story, 
could never have entered into the mind of the 
writer, nor would be likely to be distinctly perceiv- 
ed, except in occasional instances, by one reader 
in ten thousand, unless pointed out. It is in 
very slight, circuitous, and indirect correspon- 
dences that the strength of the proof consists ; and 
the more indirect and even intricate that proof is t 
the more numerous the unessential and secon- 
dary circumstances required to be brought side 
by side, in order to make it out, the more 
certain is the conclusion, that in all this 
there was nothing artificial and fabricated ; and 
that these lesser incidents were the congru* 
ous parts of one perfectly consistent, because 
simply true story. In the consideration of 
such coincidences it should be remembered, as 
Dr. Paley has justly remarked, that " it is one 
thing to be minute and another to be precarious 5 
one thing to be unobserved and another to be ob- 
scure ; one thing to be circuitous and oblique, 
and another to be forced, dubious or fanciful." 
Of such coincidences, relating to the labours, tra- 
vels, and preachings of Paul and his friends alone, 
Paley has pointed out perhaps an hundred, 
and he has by no means exhausted the sub- 



221 



ject. These, taken singly, amount to little, and 
their agreement would often escape the eye of 
any but a most diligent, as well as acute obser- 
ver ; but when compared together, they ascertain, 
by their natural coincidence, the genuineness of 
the several passages in which they are mention- 
ed, and, by inference, that of the writings which 
contain them, "It is like comparing the two parts 
of a cloven tally. Coincidence proves the au- 
thenticity of both," 

The hunting out and bringing together such 
numerous and minute particulars, in themselves 
of little interest or prominence, the unravelling 
this delicate and complicated web of probabili- 
ties, demands an acute and practised sagacity, 
aided by no common diligence and patience. 
But yet, when this has been done, it amounts to 
nothing more than the furnishing a more com- 
prehensive and satisfactory development, or a 
complete and logical analysis, of what must 
have frequently passed silently through the minds 
of a multitude of less curious readers, who, with- 
out ever thinking of any collation of facts, or 
comparison of dates, and names, and circum- 
stances, could not avoid being struck with the 
absence of all contradiction, incoherence, or in- 
congruity of relation, and the general air of truth 
and reality arising from the great frequency and 
perfect naturalness of all the allusions, and cir- 



222 



cumstances, and particulars. Many a one may 
perceive the correspondence of the whole, with- 
out being able to place his finger on the sev- 
eral points of agreement. 

Indeed, it is among the most curious, as well 
as one of the best ascertained phenomena of the 
human mind, that it seems in many things to be 
capable of seizing at once upon general results in 
reasoning, in taste, and in invention or observa- 
tion, whilst the steps of the argument, or the com- 
ponent parts and causes of the effect, almost elude 
its grasp. It frequently happens that the truth of 
a proposition, or the propriety of a measure, may 
be nearly self-evident, whilst the proof of the same 
theory, or the vindication of the policy, may re- 
quire, and may call forth, the best talents of the 
philosopher or the orator. 

The man of taste thus perceives the beauty or 
propriety of a building, or the truth of a picture^ 
without being able to account for the pleasure he 
receives : or, in a still more analogous case, the 
intelligent juryman thus anticipates at once the de- 
ductions, and leaps to the conclusions which the 
ablest and most skilful advocate must labour to de- 
velop, explain and defend, step by step. In this in- 
quiry, Paley and similar writers and commenta- 
tors are but the advocates, who point out the 
grounds and reasons of that opinion, and the de- 
tails of that argument, which are perhaps scarce- 



223 



ly less convincing to many a man in that grosser 
and less distinct form in which they were 
suggested of themselves to his mind, in a shape 
wholly unfitted for the purposes of logical rea- 
soning or argumentative disputation. 

A similar characteristic of the manner in which 
most persons form their judgments upon the 
grand subjects of moral inquiry, comprising some 
of the most abstract and the most efficient truths 
of ethics and religion, has been noticed in a former 
Essay. In all of this, there appears to me to be 
a remarkable and very beautiful correspondence 
between our intellectual powers and our person- 
al and social duties. There are numerous sub- 
jects upon which, whenever they are presented, 
we cannot, without danger to ourselves, or injury 
to others, refuse to form some judgment. In 
fact, the very refusal to do so, implies a pre-con- 
ceived judgment. However indefinite and gene- 
ral these judgments may be, they are suffi- 
cient to give a character to our most efficient 
©pinions, and to regulate our conduct on the most 
momentous occasions. But the power of logical 
exposition, or of the eloquent enforcement of these 
views, is a talent useful and admirable, indeed, 
but which most men may pass safely through life 
without exerting, and its cultivation is suffi~ 
ciently secured, for all the purposes of human so- 
ciety, by the stimulus of personal interest, of oc- 



224 



easional necessity, of curiosity, of the love of 
distinction, and, indeed, by the very gratification 
afforded by its successful exercise. 

The study of the harmony of the gospels 
affords another singular and continual illustra- 
tion of the same indications of truth. 

Biblical students, and learned commentators, 
are more apt to dwell upon the small points of diffi- 
culty, which they meet with in this examination, 
than in the evidence arising from the agreement. 
But in fact the difficulties are mainly those aris- 
ing from omission, and from general, and there- 
fore to a certain degree imperfect, narrative ; 
while the agreement is upon that very account 
more natural and convincing. 

It has been often well observed, that it is in 
itself no inconsiderable proof of the honesty and 
fidelity of the writers of the gospel history, that 
it has been given to us in the very manner in 
which it is. Impostors, or falsifiers of history, 
would have avoided the dangers of self-contra- 
diction — would have shrunk from the dangers 
of a rigorous and minute examination — at the 
same time that they would naturally have ex- 
pected to give greater interest and dignity to 
their history, by one continued, regular, solemn, 
formal and authoritative narration. They would 
not have volunteered the labour ; or if they had, 
they could not have done it without their work 



225 



bearing the marks of that very labour, of artifice, 
arrangement, and design. — But there is no pro- 
bability at all that they would have volunteered 
the labour of thus carrying on their relation, 
through four distinct and independent books of 
memoirs, sometimes running together in the 
same channel, or drawing their materials from 
one common source — then again diverging from 
each other, or supplying each other's deficiencies, 
and that in such a manner, sometimes, as to seem, 
at the first glance, contradictory — all this being 
subject to be collated and compared with other 
compositions, containing indirect or allusive re- 
ferences to the same set of facts, and these cohv- 
positions sometimes of a business character, 
sometimes argumentative, and sometimes horta- 
tory and impassioned. Such is not the usual 
manner of falsehood. It has none of the pru- 
dence, art and caution which falsehood always 
requires, to attain any semblance of plausibility; 
and its execution would have demanded a skill, 
an acuteness, a laborious and unremitting mi- 
nuteness of attention, and a dramatic and de- 
scriptive talent, ail of the very highest order, 
and all exerted without any very obvious motive. 

It is remarkable, that this mode of narration, 
which, in any profane historian, would not have 
failed to impress the reader with the conviction of 
the perfect credit due to such a history, is the very 

29 



226 



point which has afforded the most numerous oc- 
casions of petty cavilling, ( objectiones minorum 
gentium, as Bacon contemptuously calls such 
attacks,) from the variances in the order of re- 
lation, and the slight apparent contradictions 
among the evangelists, as to unessential particu- 
lars.* These writers, however, no where pro- 
fess to write chronologically, any more than Plu- 
tarch or Xenophon. They were writing me- 
moirs, either from their own knowledge, or from 
that of their immediate informants, and not for- 
mal and elaborate annals, compiled from official 
documents, records, and public histories. Their 
transitions are made, and the facts are connect- 
ed in their minds, precisely in the manner natu- 
ral to men who stand in the capacity of original 
witnesses ; who had either been themselves ac- 
tors in the affair, or derived their knowledge di- 
rectly and orally from those who were; that is 
to say, the transitions and connections take 
place according to other associations than that 
of the exact order of time — of all orders the last 
which any person who had been deeply engaged 
in any transaction, would pursue rigidly in re- 
counting it, except so far as that order might be 
necessary to the understanding the narrative* 
In one writer's mind, the order of his story is 



* As by Paine, in this country, and in the Wolfenbuttle Fragments, an 
anonymous work, which in its day excited much attention in Germany, 



227 



governed mainly by the connection of the sub- 
ject — in another's, by the part which he, or his 
friends, had borne in the dialogue or action, or 
by some secret chain of his personal feelings or 
reasoning at the moment; while another may 
follow his story more according to the associa- 
tions of place, or, not improbably, in the regular 
order of time, except so far as peculiar circum- 
stances interrupt that connection. Now it is 
certain, that all this is precisely and peculiarly 
the character of original evidence,, just as it ap- 
pears in genuine cotemporary history ; and still 
more, as we every day see it in actual business^ 
and, accordingly, it forms no ground whatever to 
presume contradiction or mis-statement, any more 
than it does when, in relating a speech, an argu- 
ment, or an exhortation, one author gives the 
very words, in his own translation more or less 
literal, from the language originally used, a se- 
cond gives a more diffuse or explanatory ver- 
sion, retaining the same sense, and a third 
abridges it into the naked heads, or sums it into 
one emphatic conclusion. Every minuter inci- 
dent or circumstance is not noticed by each, but 
one adverts to some of these, another to others. 
Nor is perfect accuracy, as to what is positively 
asserted, at all inconsistent with imperfect know- 
ledge of secondary particulars, so that many cir- 
cumstances known to one might very well be un- 
known to another. 



228 



Seeming discrepances of this sort always occur 
in accounts which are true and particular, but of 
course, in some respects imperfect ; and most of 
these contradictions instantly vanish, whenever 
the story becomes known in all its details, and in 
the precise order of its time and place. 

There is no event of our own times more am- 
ply attested, and more minutely described, than 
the pathetic and interesting occurrences of the 
last days of Louis XVI, his trial, the scenes of 
his prison, and his death. They have beeii nar- 
rated by friend and foe, at that time, and since ; 
among these are some who had the nearest ac-> 
cess to his person, and treasured up every word 
with affectionate and reverent attention. Yet it 
has been recently observed, that it is not very 
easy to reconcile perfectly into one constant rela- 
tion, all the details given by Cleri, Abbe Edge- 
worth, by his daughter and others ; although, as no, 
one of these cotemporaries has expressly censur- 
ed or corrected the other, it is highly probable 
that they are all correct, and that the mention of 
one or two unimportant circumstances known to 
all would at once clear up the difficulty.* 

In short, the highest characteristic of truth, in 
complicated testimony, is that which results from 



* Of course this is given merely in the way of illustration. Not having 
the several narratives at hand, I cannot say whether the fact be literally so, } 
or whether the contradictions are irreconcileable ; though unessential 



229 



perfect uniformity as to essential and striking in= 
cidents and a real agreement, combined with an 
apparent variance, in minor particulars ; and this, 
any one who studies the books of the New Tes- 
tament historically, with an eye solely to facts, 
will perceive to be there most strikingly exhibit- 
ed. A literal coincidence, which would never 
occasion a moment's hesitation or inquiry, would 
have entirely destroyed that weight which arises 
from the clear appearance of the several testimo- 
nies being collateral and independent. The nar- 
ratives might have been equally correct, but they 
would have been less natural, less impressive, and, 
what is not the least in importance, less engaging 
and interesting, and much less fitted for the use 
of the unlearned reader. 

Respecting the precise chronological order 
and perfect harmonizing of the gospels, in the 
very order in which the events actually took 
place, it is to be doubted whether we have now 
the means of coming to any conclusive opinion, 
or to any other result than a reasonable and 
probable arrangement. More than this is not 
useful for any purpose of instruction, argument, 
or evidence. 

Warburton, speaking of harmonies, calls them 
a sort of book, of which he read none, and con- 
sulted few. This is in Warburton's habitual 
manner of extravagant and dogmatic assertion* 



230 



always aiming at the effect of paradox, and never 
failing to attain it by his manner alone, where 
the sobriety of his matter would not yield it. 
Yet this criticism is not without some foundation 
in good sense. 

Wherever exact notes of time are not given, 
it is impossible to do more than to show how the 
several narratives may reasonably be reconciled ; 
and that, in some cases* can very well be done, 
in more ways than one, and, so far as it now ap- 
pears, with equal probability. 

This as relates to the gospels has been sufficient- 
ly well done by Newcome, Doddridge, Professor 
White, and many others ; and though they differ 
more or less in arrangement and explanation, any 
one of these harmonies affords a competent solu- 
tion of all difficulties, so far as regards their bear- 
ing upon the truth of the gospel history. Whether 
or not the certain and unimpeachable veracity of 
these writers extends, also, to perfect accuracy 
in all minor details, (excepting always the appa- 
rent inaccuracy arising from omission,) is another 
question, which is certainly of great interest as 
to the degree of authority to be ascribed to these 
books ; but as regards their genuineness, and the 
credit due to their history, it is wholly unessen- 
tial. 

Without wishing to enter at all upon that dis- 
cussion, I can only say, that the result of as dili- 



231 



gent and fair an examination as I could give this 
subject, and that repeatedly, and after long in- 
tervals, is, to deny the existence of any real, 
though unessential contradictions, such as exist 
in most other authentic histories, and which, as 
they do not at all affect the substantial credit of 
the narratives, many able and learned advo- 
cates of Christianity, seem willing to admit as 
probable. On the contrary, I fully assent to 
Newcome's conclusions.* " The result of my 
thoughts and inquiries," says that careful, pa- 
tient, and acute inquirer, " is, that every proposi- 
tion in scripture contains a truth, when rightly 
understood ; that the evangelists conceived alike 
of the facts related by them, but sometimes place 
them in different lights, and make a selection of 
different circumstances attending them ; and 
that the seeming variations would instantly va- 
nish, were the history known to us in its precise 
order, and in all its circumstances. Strong pre- 
sumptions of their inspiration arise from an ac- 
curate comparison of the gospels ; from their 
being so wonderfully supplemental to each other, 
in passages reconcileable only by the suggestion 
of a seemingly indifferent circumstance; and 
from their real agreement, in the midst of a 
seeming disagreement. ' Truth,' says Mr. West, 



* Newcojne's Preface to his Greek Harmony, 



232 



like honesty, often neglects appearances — hy- 
pocrisy and imposture are always guarded.' " 

If others, after due investigation, cannot ac- 
quiesce in these conclusions, let them, however, 
cautiously beware of confounding the decision 
of this topic with the more essential preliminary 
question touching the character of the writers, 
their perfect means of information, their can- 
dour, singleness of intention, and serious, earnest 
veracity. 

I have before observed, (what philosophers 
and reasoners, in the pride of intellect, are much 
inclined to overlook,) that, in relation to the 
highest, noblest and most universal of all evi- 
dences, that which results from the majesty and 
excellence of principle or precept, man's pure- 
ly intellectual faculties, and the logical exercise 
of them, are not his only guides to truth. Full 
often do his natural sympathies, emotions, sen- 
sibilities, and affections, speak to his reason in 
that language in which nature acknowledges the 
presence of its Author, and the authority of his 
commandments. Thus it is too with regard to 
much of this evidence. There is a natural sen- 
timent of truth in testimony, and honesty in cha- 
racter, as well as a rational perception of them. 

This power of interpreting the language of 
nature, is not learnt from any rules of criticism, 
but springs up of itself, and requires only use 



233 



and exercise for its development. This is 
the great principle that constitutes the true 
foundation of good taste and sound criticism. 
It mingles with our daily thoughts, guides us in 
the ways of mankind, regulates or influences our 
judgments of character, and dictates to us the 
faith which we may give to the assertions of 
others, and the reliance which we may place 
upon their truth or honour. 

We ought not, therefore, to confine our inqui- 
ries to matters of fact, and to the external pecu- 
liarities and mannerisms of phrase and idiom, 
whilst we can also refer to — what I know not whe- 
ther critics arid rhetoricians have ever given a 
name to, but which we may justly denominate — 
the Moral Qualities of Style. I mean, by this 
phrase, those characteristics of principle, of ear- 
nestness, of pure sentiment, and that exhibition of 
the habitual cast of thought, which must be felt 
rather than discussed or argued about, and toge- 
ther afford the surest light by which the critic in 
literature can direct his course, when he decides 
upon the authenticity of works of genius or ori- 
ginality, or by which the critic of character can 
be guided in his estimate of moral worth. 

It requires but very little skill or practice to 
be enabled, in reading any historical narrative, 
or any accounts of recent or cotemporary events, 
('provided we are sufficiently aloof from the im- 

30 



234 



mediate interest of the scene to view it with 
calmness and an unbiassed judgment,) to per- 
ceive whether or no the writer relates what he be- 
lieves, and relates them as plain facts ; or whe- 
ther he tells them with a tone of exaggeration, 
as aiming to interest or surprise the reader ; or 
whether he does not give himself up to some 
spirit of party, and half wilfully, half insensibly, 
colour the incidents with his own feelings of 
partial zeal, or prejudiced animosity. 

There is a simplicity and directness accompa- 
nying strict truth, which, like the frank and open 
aspect of unsuspicious honesty, at once concili- 
ates the confidence of all whose imaginations are 
not filled with dark suspicions and universal dis- 
trust, or whose aversion to the subject of the evi- 
dence does not prejudice them against the cha- 
racter of the witness. On the other hand, there 
is a partisan tone, and there is also a manner of 
romance and embellishment, which are as surely 
calculated to weaken confidence, and to sug- 
gest distrust to all who do not participate in the 
feelings of the writer. 

But the historic portions of the New Testa- 
ment, above all other narrative writings of any 
particularity whatever, are remarkable for their v 
perfect artlessness, and their grave and solemn 
composure ; for the absence of all efforts to ani- 
mate or embellish the stoiy, to increase its inte- 



235 



rest, or to rill the reader with admiration for the 
character, and still less for the prodigies of him 
whose acts they record. They narrate his actions, 
and record parts of his instruction, and no more. 
So far are they from showing any desire to enforce 
the truth of their story by argument, authority, 
or rhetoric, that the bare possibility of being charg- 
ed with falsehood seems never to suggest itself to 
them. They manifest nothing of the feeling of 
party— not a word of eulogy, or of vituperation, 
or even of censure escapes them. The deeds 
and the words of the tyrant, or the traitor, of the 
malignant and the hypocritical, are spoken of as 
they occurred, but without epithet or comment. 
There is never any climax of prodigies — no gra- 
dual preparation for surprise and wonder. Of 
themselves they think not. They speak tran- 
siently of their own errors and gross ignorance, 
and of those of their friends and companions, 
without affectation of humility, but with no at- 
tempt to conceal or excuse them. Filled with the 
grand truth of their subject, their own little feelings 
are forgotten, or rather totally absorbed. In them, 
the natural passions of human nature, which min- 
gle with the thoughts of the wisest and best, seem, 
for a time, to have sunk down, and become hush- 
ed into a hallowed calm. 

They profess to be, and they are, witnesses 
and historians, and nothing else. 



236 



Every transient and unaffected indication 
which can be given in such compositions, of the 
temper and moral disposition of the writer, in 
the exercise of candour, of humility, of liberal 
and tolerant judgment of others, in the suppres- 
sion of all personal bitterness, singularly agrees 
with the precepts and moral tendency of the re- 
ligion itself, 

This last circumstance at once affords an evin 
dence of veracity, resembling that arising from 
the circumstantial agreement of incidental par- 
ticulars, as touched upon above, and, at the 
same time, commends the testimony of these 
men to our belief, by all that just authority which 
arises from excellence of moral character. 

That person must have observed but little, or 
else have seen by far too much of human na- 
ture — must have either lived wholly aloof from 
the observation of life, or have been so much 
conversant with the worst part of society as to 
have hardened and blunted his perceptions to- 
wards the genuine and unstudied expression of 
honesty and goodness, who cannot see in the 
writings ascribed to the apostle John the uner- 
ring signs of an ingenuous, amiable, humble and 
benevolent spirit. We may take it for granted, 
if we will, that he was a dreamer, an enthusi- 
ast, a visionary, or a lunatic — still, without any 
Qther indications of his character, than those gi^ 



237 



ven in the few pages of his composition which 
have come down to us. every candid man must 
confess, that he was a benevolent, virtuous, ho- 
nest, and most amiable mail, who fully and un- 
doubtingly believed that which he was anxious 
to enforce to the acceptance of others. 

The writings of Paul afford different and much 
more varied grounds for the same kind of argu- 
ment; not, certainly, clearer or more strong, (for 
that is not possible,) but, perhaps, more suscep- 
tible of critical inquiry and development. 

We may, so far as it is possible to divest 
one's self of all interest in the question, and of 
sympathy for the natural and fervid eloquence of 
sincerity and zeal, and devoted earnestness, 
throw out of view all consideration of the truth 
or power of the doctrines which Paul teaches, 
and consider the question purely critically; not 
indeed by any means in the spirit of verbal crit- 
icism, but in that of natural taste. We may en- 
deavour to look upon the question, somewhat as 
we would do the contested classical point, 
whether the beautiful and instructive fragment 
of the Dialogue De Oratoribus be the work of 
Tacitus or not ; examining whether the style, 
the sentiment, the train and cast of thought, the 
manner of transition and arrangement, be such 
as we have a right to expect from the alleged au- 
thor, and in correspondence with his history. 



2m 

Paul is portrayed as a man of learning and ta- 
lent, of a profound theological education, and of 
an active mind, and his Epistles are confess- 
edly remarkable for containing many things hard 
to understand. Why are they so ? Is it from the 
enthusiasm, the mysticism, or the affected and 
oracular obscurity of the writer 1 Or are not the 
subjects themselves hard to be understood? 
Many of them are things which the human un-i 
derstanding can never completely grasp — of 
which we can have but partial and wholly inn 
adequate conceptions, glimpses, not distinct 
views. Are not, in fact, all subjects connected 
with, or arising out of, the overwhelming truths 
of eternity, omnipotence and spiritual being — 
of the mysterious questions of the origin and exis- 
tence of evil, and especially of moral evil — of the 
permission of sin, and the creation, by a bene- 
volent and omniscient Creator, of accountable 
beings, with strong tendencies towards error and 
vice — of foreknowledge and free will, together 
with the innumerable practical or theoretical 
doubts and opinions which grow out of these — ■ 
are not all these subjects necessarily very hard 
to be understood by the human mind ? 

But, in considering the internal signs of au- 
thenticity and veracity, I refer chiefly to the 
manner of his unfolding these opinions, and of 
arguing upon these subjects. It is a manner whol- 



239 



If original, and bearing the deepest impress of 
truth and nature. The writer professes himself 
to be one who has heard, and seen, and been 
taught unutterable things — who has been brought 
to the knowledge and confession of that truth, 
which engrosses all his thoughts, and swallows 
up every other interest, not through the slow 
processes of reason, or by the observation of mi- 
raculous facts visible to the senses, or in the or- 
dinary operation of moral illumination through 
the conscience and affections, but in a manner not 
only supernatural but wholly peculiar ; whose 
knowledge of the doctrines, which he authorita- 
tively declares to his disciples, he tells them, 
came not of man nor through man, but im- 
mediately from the Father of lights, in a way 
which he himself does not and could not describe 
or explain — whether in the body or out of the 
body, he is wholly uncertain. 

This statement, the objector will say, is the 
work either of delusion or imposture ; but let us 
compare the account given us of Paul's history and 
his state of mind with his writings, and mark how 
wonderful is the congruity which we may ob- 
serve between them. 

His style, forcible, flexible, and copious as it is, 
is not perspicuous ; but its obscurity is like that 
effulgence which the great English epic poet has 
described, as being "dark with excess of light." 



240 



His mind is evidently crowded with ideas strag- 
gling for utterance, with thoughts and emotions 
for which he finds language to be wholly inade- 
quate, to which he feels that the habitual concep- 
tions, the reason, the knowledge, the experience, 
of those to whom he addresses himself, present no 
sufficient counterpart. He labours with the mag- 
nitude of a revelation, with the vastness and cer- 
tainty of a knowledge, which his mind can with 
difficulty contain, and which he feels that he can 
but partially unfold to others. 

His intense and immediate conviction of truth, 
is accompanied with an equal intensity of feeling. 
He is filled with devotion, fervid gratitude, pros- 
trate humility, unquenchable zeal. From these 
causes, naturally arise his sudden transitions, 
his rapid accumulations of thought upon thought. 
— Hence his peculiar mode of unexpectedly ris- 
ing from the argument in which the errors, or 
the controversies of the times happened to en- 
gage him, to loftier themes, and holier contem- 
plations ; connecting with the business and con- 
troversies of this world, which were soon to pass 
away, considerations of eternal and universal im- 
portance, of whose reality he had a still more in- 
tim ate and present conviction. 

It is true, that to him who has made no ap- 
proach to this knowledge, and more especially to 
him who has no answering sympathies to his 



241 



kindling sentiment, much of this is, and must 
ever be, strangely and wildly obseure- i -his transi- 
tions must appear abrupt* his raptures extrava- 
gant or enthusiastic, and his reasonings inco- 
herent or inconclusive. 

Yet, if We grant that he taught the truth, and 
remember the manner in which this truth is as- 
serted to have been poured into his mind, and 
the extent and distinctness of the revelation so 
vouchsafed to him, then we can easily trace a 
most perfect coincidence between the style and 
character of thought, argument, and language, 
and that state of feeling which we may judge 
to have been habitual to the writer whenever 
his mind was turned, either in direct medita- 
tion, or by some casual association, to the recollec- 
tion of the " deep things of God." 

The mention of the difficulties of certain pas- 
sages of the writings of the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles, naturally leads to some inquiries 
which have no very distant connexion with the 
subject of the former part of this Essay. Every 
one knows, that there are scattered throughout 
the whole of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, 
passages of much obscurity, of doubtful interpre- 
tation, and capable of diverse expositions. Now, 
what inference ought to be drawn from this fact ? 
Was such a circumstance to be expected in an 
inspired volume ? Does this not afford positive 

31 



242 



proof, that a composition in any manner deficient 
in perspicuity, could not have come from an om- 
niscient author ? In short, whilst the positive in- 
ternal evidence of style and language, show and 
mark the genuineness of the books, and the 
good intentions of their writers, do not these 
difficulties, on the other side, furnish quite as 
positive internal evidence to the critic, that these 
books come wholly from man, partaking of all his 
imperfections and his ignorance, and proceeded 
not from the fountain of Light and Truth 1 

This is an objection or difficulty which has 
been sometimes directly urged, and is very 
often insinuated. Such a conclusion, however, 
would be probable only upon the supposition, 
that the whole, or the greater part of these books, 
was one inexplicable mass of confusion and ob- 
scurity to those to whom it was addressed. If that 
were the case, it would present a most serious, it 
may be, an unanswerable objection. But if, so far 
from this being the fact, amidst much, that each 
and all of us can comprehend and profit by, 
there are interspersed parts which present diffi- 
culties, perplexities, and materials for controver- 
sy, which have yet certainly been understood 
in former days, or which probably may be under- 
stood whenever the necessary explanation is given, 
this strikes my mind as being precisely what from 
analogy, and the reason of the thing, previously 
to any experience on the subject, we might argue 



243 



would be the character of such compositions as 
these. 

If this revelation be divine, then these writings 
are not like the writings of human systems or 
of human controversy, intended for any one tem- 
porary object, or class of objects, and limited to 
one circle of readers ; but whatever may have been 
the immediate design of the writer, they must 
have been meant for varied, and successive, and 
long continued — we may almost say — for infinite 
uses ; for guarding against the errors, and antici- 
pating the wants, of innumerable multitudes of 
individuals of the most dissimilar intellectual 
powers and habits, for the guidance of the Indian 
and African, of the slave and the peasant, of the 
philosopher and the scholar ; for the instruction 
of the church in every stage through which she 
was, and still is, to pass in the long train of ages, 
midst countless varieties of heresies, opinions, 
factions and superstitions. Now, to anticipate all 
these uses, to follow out the full meaning of eve- 
ry passage, and to comprehend all the views of 
such a work, (if it really be what it professes to 
be,) the mind of the reader must partake in no 
small degree of that measureless wisdom and 
pervading forethought which dictated or direct- 
ed its composition. 

If the mind, in contemplating this vast and 
magnificent prospect, feels its own littleness and 



244 



Weakness, it must also confess its own inadeqiia T 
cy to judge and to comprehend fully and precise- 
ly every part of that history, or of that instruction, 
which is capable of such boundless application. 

We do not pretend to understand the meaning 
or to canvass the policy, of the legislative provi- 
sions, or the political institution^ of other times 
and countries, or even of those of our own civil 
or criminal code, without being in some degree 
informed of the precise design and object of the 
law, of the evil it is intended to remedy, or of that 
intention which it is meant by the legislator, it 
should ultimately effect. How much less, then, 
must any individual be able to comprehend the 
whole and entire meaning of that revelation, 
which, if it be true, cannot but be pregnant with 
myriads of uses, and have in itself "infinite 
springs and streams of doctrine ?"* 

Consider the subject independently of any 
theory or prepossession, and see if it is not proba- 
ble, from the nature of things, that the books of 
a revelation, intended alike for the general use 
of the church, and the particular instruction of so 
many millions of private persons and public 
teachers in all ages of the world, would not have 
some of the peculiar difficulties which mark our 
scriptures ? Whether it is probable that any 



* Lord Bacon, 



245 



one intellect could embrace the scope and entire 
design of what was intended for so many and 
such dissimilar understandings and circumstan- 
ces ? And this, too, when that intention is not 
mere theoretical instruction, but practical influ- 
ence, impression, edification, or consolation for 
many millions of individuals, each one of whom, 
in some circumstance of character or situation,, 
is probably a peculiar and solitary being. 

Is it not therefore very probable, that more or 
less of such a work would be dark to the rea- 
der in those parts not originally intended for his 
use, or that of his age or nation — that its digres- 
sions might seem unaccountable, perhaps its ar- 
guments unintelligible, until that use occurred for 
which it was so far designed — until the facts 
whether springing from the moral idiosyncrasies, 
the mental peculiarities of the individual, or from 
external situation and public opinion, from the 
political or religious state of the world, upon 
which these passages were meant to shed their 
light, be made known, ? 

We may single out one prominent and exten- 
sive example, or, rather, large class of examples of 
this leading and pervading truth. To us, whose 
minds have been wholly formed under the influ- 
ence of the laws, science, education and habits 
of reasoning which prevail in the modern civili- 
zed world, when the general cultivation of the ex- 



246 



acter sciences, the strictness of legal and com- 
mercial transactions, and, not improbably, too, 
something in the primitive, mental or physical 
constitution of the northern European race, have 
trained to a certain business-like directness and 
perspicuity of style and argument, to a methodi- 
cal, and often technical arrangement, to a more 
cultivated, copious and precise, but less flexible 
or impressive language, and a taste regulated 
and disciplined to a critical and fastidious cor- 
rectness, no inconsiderable portion of the more 
ancient scriptures is clouded with some obscurity 
from the boldness of metaphors, the abruptness 
and unexpectedness of transitions, the pregnant 
fullness of various senses, conveyed in few a'nd 
simple words, and the singularities of allegorical 
or typical instruction, so little in accordance with 
our studies and manners. 

To account for and explain such passages has 
constituted in effect the chief labour of commenta^ 
tors and theologians, who have learnedly shown 
that these are all in conformity to the taste and 
genius of the eastern countries in which the books 
were originally published, and for whose use 
they were primarily and immediately intended. 

But we may safely push this argument much 
further. This oriental character and genius still 
remain the same, unchanged and unchangeable, 
bearing the same indelible form which they did 



247 



ages ago. Is it then unreasonable to suppose, 
that in the future progress of our religion, and 
in the wide dispersion of its sacred books in all 
the tongues of Asia and Africa, which is even 
now going on, that much of what to us is strange 
or dark, or at least until the mind has become 
familiarized and imbued with its images and lan- 
guage, quite useless or unedifying, may be that 
very portion the most calculated to excite the 
attention, to touch the feelings, or even to en- 
lighten the understandings, of thousands of 
Christians in the wide and populous regions of 
the east ? 

The turn of language, the choice of topics of 
argument and of illustration, the adaptation of 
thoughts and imagery to the tastes and opinions 
of a people whose customs and language differ 
so widely from those of modern cultivation, have 
altogether the appearance of being expressly de- 
signed for the future use of communities, such as 
those which we know to fill at present the greatest 
and the fairest part of the habitable globe, and 
who, in many points of character, strongly resem- 
ble those to whom this revelation, in its earlier 
stages, was immediately communicated. 

The ancient oriental mode of teaching by met- 
aphor, parable, and similitude, that dim sha- 
dowing of type and figure, which frequently most 
vividly suggest an interior meaning, which yet 



248 



will not bear a Strict logical comparison with the 
imagery that conveys it ; that peculiar method 
of intimating moral and abstract ideas, in- 
structions, and promises, by the medium of phy- 
sical and sensible images, are some of the most 
frequent sources of difficulty and doubt to the 
learned and speculative commentator. Yet* all 
this is strictly conformable to the intellectual 
habits of those, whose language is not enriched 
with those words produced by a high state of 
mental culture, and fitted for the conveyance of 
abstract and purely intellectual notions. To a 
large class of mankind, such ideas are communi- 
cated, it may be less accurately, but it is certain, 
much more vividly, by illustrations and similitudes, 
and emblems drawn from external nature, or from 
the domestic affections, than by the precise lan- 
guage which has passed from the books and schools 
of philosophy to more common usage. For the 
same cause, that kind of illustration and of 
phraseology which is most suited for the instruc- 
tion of all such or simpler nations, is (there is the 
best ground for believing, both from actual ob- 
servation, and the reason of the thing) that which 
is most impressive, and even most intelligible to 
a great proportion of the body of unlearned 
Christians in all times and countries. 

Thus, by arguing from final causes, from the 
probable intent and uses of revelation, we may 



249 



arrive at the same conclusion which Origan*- 
long ago drew from the direct analogy with the 
constitution of nature, " that he who believes the 
scriptures to have proceeded from him who is the 
Author of Nature, may well expect to find in them 
the same sort of difficulties that are to be found 
in the natural creation." 

Neither in the study of God's material laws, 
nor in that of the revelation of his Son, can any 
limited being expect to comprehend the whole ; 
it is sufficient for him that what is most fitted for 
Jjis own use, is placed within the reach of his own 
mind. 

* As quoted by Butler in his Introduction to his Analogy. 



32 



APPENDIX 



Note A. p. 5. 

It is a curioiis piece of literary history, that this argument 
tative tract, precisely the same in substance, and very simi- 
lar in form, is to be found in English as Leslie's, and in 
French, printed as an original work among the collection of the 
complete works of the Abbe St. Real, the author of the half his- 
torical, half romantic narrative of the conspiracy of Venice. It is 
ascribed to St. Real by Priestley, and other English writers. Les- 
lie and St. Real were cotemporaries, and it increases the uncertain- 
ty of the question, that the Frenchman spent some time in Eng- 
land, and the Englishman many years in France. But the internal 
evidence is strongly in favour of Leslie. The illustration drawn 
from Stonehenge, and the allusions to some of the popular scepti- 
cal writers of the day are much more English than French. The 
course of argument, and the points insisted upon^ are more in 
the manner of a Protestant than of a Catholic writer, though not 
so decidedly so as to settle the question. The vigorous and 
close logic, and homely clearness, are more certain marks of 
Leslie's hand, being much in the style of his other multifarious 
polemical and political writings, and altogether unlike that 
of St. Real, whose few theological writings, though favourites of 
his own, are considered as failures in point of ability, while hia 
reputation rests chiefly upon the grace and facility of his style, 
and that exuberant and flowery imagination which so often tempt- 
ed him (in the gentle phrase of his eulogist) to use its fertili- 
ty as a remedy for the barrenness of history ; " chercher dans la 
fecondite de son imagination, des ressources oontre la sterilite 
fa l'histoirp.' , 



2m 

An additional presumption against the claim of St. R6al to 
this work, arises from the allowed fact, that the popularity of 
St. Real's name occasioned various forgeries of the booksellers, 
who, after his death, published as his, several works of historic 
fiction, which are now known to Have been written by obscure 
authors of that day. A list of these is given in the preface to a 
late edition of his works, and though the title of the Method 
with the Deists is not among them, there seems the highest pro- 
bability that this was translated from the English, and ascrib- 
ed to him in the same manner, either as a trick of the trade, Or, 
it may be, as a sort of pious fraud,- to give currency to a valuable 
work, by lending it the attraction of a popular name; 

Note B. p. 15. 

Whether or no the prophetic language can justly bear any 
other than one precise meaning ; or whether it may not have 
been originally intended to apply primarily to temporal 
events, and afterwards, in a manner analogous to the whole sys- 
tem of the Jewish law and ritual, to bear a further and moral or 
Christian meaning ?— Whether certain passages of the Old Tes- 
tament quoted in the New, are there cited as predictions really 
fulfilled, or simply in illustration, as a modern divine may quote 
scripture history in allusion to the political events of his own 
times, while, in fact, he neither believes, nor means to have it 
understood that he believes, that there is any thing like the ac- 
tual fulfilment of a prediction ? — These are, it is well knowfy 
subjects upon which learned and judicious men have differed. 
They are, on many accounts ; questions of great interest, but 
not, in my opinion, necessarily involving that of the validity of 
the prophetic evidence. 

The principle which I have suggested in the preceding pages 
is of a more general application. It is in brief this. Allowing 
that there is nothing of a typical or secondary sense in the Psalms, 
the Prophecies, or the poetry of the Old Testament, is it not still 
very remarkable that so much of its contents should be singu- 



253 



My adapted to suggest ideas analogous to the events, the uses, 
and the blessings of the Christian dispensation, and should bear 
so often a beautiful and happy allusive application to so many 
of them ? How happens it, that so much of these compositions^ 
which are directly applicable only to past events and usages, 
should be capable of being employed with such slight and natu- 
ral adaptations to animate the devotions of Christian assemblies, 
or to illustrate and enrich the eloquence or the instruction of 
Christian teachers ? 

If, in reading a poet or satirist, where we could see no mark 
of any continued allegory, we should yet be struck with a mul- 
titude of passages, bearing the happiest and clearest application 
to one set of events or characters within the probable know- 
ledge of the author, we should naturally believe that such an ap- 
plication, if not immediately intended, was at least among the 
designs of the writer. 

Now^ on this same principle, supported by a much larger in- 
duction of particular allusions and applications than any poet is 
like to furnish, we may deduce the strongest reasons for believ- 
ing that all this system was foreseen and intended, that the cor- 
respondence and application was not accidental, but designed. 

If any one doubts this inference, and supposes that the ob- 
scurities of these ancient writers are such as to enable any 
one to make what he fancies from them, let him choose some ob- 
scure Greek or Latin author, one of those who have most exer- 
cised the patience and ingenuity of commentators, and try the 
same experiment upon them. Let him take Pindar or Persius, 
both confessedly among the most obscure of the remains of an- 
tient literature ; both of them full of unexpected and rapid 
transitions, of allusions to manners and institutions which are 
now lost, and to opinions now to be hunted out only by labori- 
ous study. Let him see if he can apply passage after passage 
of such a Writer in a predictive or eveh in a probably allusive 
sense, to the doctrines and history of Mahomet, or of any mo- 
dern sect, or to the public events of any connected portion of 
ihe history of modern Europe or America. 



254 



From this applicability, this fitness for other uses than were 
originally in view, arises an evidence, if not of prediction in the 
strict sense, yet of fore-knowledge, of intention, of preparation, 
of uniformity in the whole plan of revelation^ 

Note D. p. 79< 

This anticipated testimony of Socrates or Plato (no matted 
which ) to the future revelation of man's duties, and his relation 
to his Creator, is peculiarly valuable on several accounts. Whilst 
it strikingly shows the unsatisfactoririess of all the conclusions to 
which reason, alone, can ever attain upon these subjects, and af- 
fords the confessions of the wisest and best men of antiquity, 
to the need and worth of a revelation ; it also seems to me to 
furnish an implied practical refutation of Hume's famous though 
unsubstantial and purely verbal argument against miracles. 
This argument, which, though it has puzzled many^ has, I be- 
lieve, never convinced any who were not anxious to be so con-* 
vinced, denies (as is well known) the possibility of any sufficient 
proof of miracles, because they are against uniform past experi- 
ence, on which alone our belief in testimony is founded. But a 
revelation, such as had never been made, and to which, as Plato 
and Socrates believed, nothing similar had ever taken place, 
is equally against the uniform course of nature, with any physi- 
cal miracle. Yet, these philosophers were not only ready to 
receive it When it should be granted, but were even led by rea- 
son to expect it with some confidence — so little contradiction is 
there, in fact, in any sound mind, between our belief in the con- 
tinuance and regularity of the laws of nature and the acknow- 
ledgment of the power of their author to suspend or change 
them. 

Qp*37rovc JiXKilffQat. A A. IIots guv 7rctf>sr*t o ^/>ovoc ovros, a 2ax/J4tTSf ; Kstt <t($ 
o rrctifiuo-oov: w'(T;rat yio av (aoi cToaa tS'iJv rovrov to? eti$fC67rov rit Wii. 
OZrog iffvv a) 5 * [Aku irifi <rov. &Ki£ fonei (xot t uT7rt^ rcf Atop* fat <$nri riiv *A0j?' 



255 



y*y''0/ua/>3c diro roov l<p§&Xfxmv d^iXttv tjiv "©^p' «u ytyv&ffKOt fifth &w 

»fi x.x)xvSp* t oura kx) <rtv Stiv *7ro Tits ^v^tTrpcerov dqiXovrcL thv *£aoi/, *f 
vuv^rit^au^A Tu}/^*v«/, roravixxdr «<J>j Tpooyptpuv Si av fxixxus yvsttris-B-xt tijuh 
KctKOv iiSt Kti \t$tkw. vuy fxh y£% obx. av (tot Sokys Svv»Qnv&t. AA. ' Afxipiha, 
sin fiovxsrtt, t»v d%xi>v % Hjfo-eatAAo ri. dc \yd> 7rctf.iTKi6dLfffA.zi fjtnSh xvQiuyuv 
Tavv7r' izttvcu TrpoTT&rro'Civaiv, orris Trot' o xv8pa>7roi' iiyi (AxxoifAi 
<ria>v ytAr&xi. 2a. * Kxxx fxh xdxuvos d-xv/xxrn oV»v 7npt <?i ?rpoBufj.ixv Z%it. 
AA. Ef? von roivvv Ku.) tw &w'ntv xvx^xxxis-^xt x^xtitov sivct/ ,uoi Sox.ii. 
Sfl. K*t o/)9»? j/i 3-3/ cToxet. fltT^iXsrsfov sr/v » 7rtff*JuycTyv«t/sJV TficouTov k/v- 
{Tyvof. AA. 'Axxx TfiBf, a ~S.(cxpxtis ; jut} ^aw tcutgvi tov s~i$*vov, \7ruSy1 fxoi 
Sonde. jtatAfiuf a-u/u^t&ovXtvxivAiy eo\ 7npiBmu>' <ro7j S-soTc SI x.st< rs$«ivcy? 
<rx\x&7rdvrx txvta tx vofxic^ofjuvx non Su>Tou.iv y onr&v ixu'vnv t»v rtuipxv \h- 
QovT&v iSa>. Sign S' oi Six /uixxpov t tovrm ^ixovtuv. 

< J Socrates, You must therefore remain content until some 
one instruct you in your duties to Heaven and to men. Alcibi- 
Ades. When will that day arrive, my Socrates, and who will 
that instructor be ? Right gladly would I welcome him. Soc. 
He it is, whose care ever watches over you. Yet it seems to me 
that, as Homer relates, the divinity of Wisdom dispelled the 
cloud which hung before the eyes of Diomed, 

And purg'd his sight, so as to distinguish God 
From mortals, clearly; 

So you, too, stand in need that this power should disperse the 
mist from off your mind, and then place within your reach that 
which will enable you to distinguish good from evil ; for now, 
indeed, you seem to me to be quite incapable of discerning them 
aright. Alcib. Let it be as He wills. Let him take away 
that cloud, or any thing else, for I am resolved to submit to all 
his injunctions, provided only I may become better. Soc. Yon 
may rely upon his care of you being wonderful indeed. Alcib. 
It is best, then, to postpone this sacrifice. Soc. You say right. 
It is much safer to do so, than to expose yourself to peril by 
an unworthy offering. Alcib. It is so. Let me, then, present 
this garland to you, my wise teacher, We will duly fulfil all 
the sacred rites, as soon as I perceive the approach of that pro- 
mised day. Heaven grant that it may not be long first." 



256 



Note E. p. QO. 

u Avant done que d'^crire, appKenez a penseir. 
Selon que notre idee est plus ou moins obscure, 
L 'expression la suit, ou moins nette, ou plus pure, 
Ce que Ton conc,oit bien, s'enonce clairement, 
Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement, 

says Boileau, and a thousand mouths and pens have repeated, 
that clearness of expression will always follow clearness of 
thought. 

In spite of the high authority of this poet of good taste and 
common sense, and of the still higher authority of common 
opinion, I must think that this rule, if true, must be taken with 
multitudes of exceptions. The converse is always true — that 
without distinctness of thought, there can be no perspicuity of 
language. But we every day meet with men who understand 
their own meaning perfectly, and are yet often incompetent to 
convey that meaning to others. This arises from various 
causes — most commonly from a want of facility in translating 
the short hand of thought, which most men are accustomed to 
employ in their own minds, to the more formal and filled up 
language of speaking or writing. The ideas, though intuitively 
clear to the speaker, are not sufficiently developed to be made 
distinct to others. The mind is not suffered to dwell sufficiently 
long enough upon eacli thought, which is rapidly and imperfectly 
presented to its examination, or else the thought is expressed in 
words which have no ambiguity to him who uses them, but to 
others, suggest innumerable meanings besides those intended to 
be conveyed. 

No power of thinking, without some natural or acquired ac- 
curacy and facility of expression will supply these deficiencies. 

The celebrated John Punier, the great anatomist and physio- 
logist, was a remarkable instance of an inventive and vigorous 
mind, whose perfect command of his subject was never able to 
supply l}imwith the facundia and lucidus ovdo* tjiat copiousness 



257 



and distinct arrangement which are so boldly promised by the 
closet critic to the laborious and successful student. 

Bishop Butler is, though by no means to the same extent, an- 
other example of the same truth. I do not say that Butler ever 
leaves the attentive reader at a loss for his meaning. But his 
habits of abstract and metaphysical inquiry withdrew his atten- 
tion very much from external nature, and the business concerns 
of life, and he^ accordingly, deals too much in generals — he 
wants vividness and variety of illustration, and a more obvious, 
distinct, and natural arrangement of argument. I have never met 
with an intelligent reader of Butler, who did not enter into the 
general scope of his reasoning and feel its force ; nor yet with 
one who did not complain of great obscurity and perplexity 
in his management of it. 

It would be rendering no small service to the cause of religion 
and science, if the Analogy could be re-written by some one en- 
dowed with Paley's faculty of clear and perspicuous reasoning, 
and happy copiousness of striking and alluring illustration. 

Another memorable proof that no necessary connection exists 
between clear thought and popular or perspicuous manner, may 
be found in the works of a writer, whose speculations will, I 
ventnre to pronounce, exercise a far more marked influence over 
the public concerns and opinions of the remainder of this centu- 
ry, so far as relates to the great principles of political econo- 
my, and their most important applications, than those of any 
other man of our day — I mean the late Mr. Ricardo. 

Mr. Ricardo's education and course of life led him from par- 
ticular facts and practical details up to general speculation ; and 
it is, on that account, the more singular that he has presented 
his great and original views of political economy in the most 
naked and repulsive form, giving to the laws which govern the 
creation of exchangeable value, the incidence of taxation, and the 
nature of currency and credit, all the harsh abstractness of math- 
ematical propositions. He is not obscure from confusion of 
thought, nor from ambiguity of language, but from want of deve- 

.S3 



258 



J^pment, and from taking too much for granted in the acilterless 
'and attention of his readers. Even most of those who enter per- 
fectly into his sense, must read him and meditate him again and 
again, before his system becomes familiar to them, and perfectly 
at their command. 

Compare him with such a writer as Say— -a writer, too, of no 
common ability— how much clearer is the one — but how much 
deeper the other ! 

The necessary imperfections of language, form another and 
very efficient cause of partial obscurity : this is most operative 
in the most original and profound writers and thinkers, when 
they discuss subjects and ideas of pure intellect, or of deep 
and (if the phrase may be used) interior sentiment, far 
removed from the ordinary thoughts and occupations of society, 
and having little connection with the common pursuits of busi- 
ness or pleasure, or much resemblance to that material na- 
ture which surrounds us. The more profound, the more com- 
prehensive the views which may be given of these internal and 
transcendental truths of our mind, or of the universal laws of 
intellect, or duty, or being, the more inadequate is that language 
which has been formed for the ordinary purposes of life, to ex- 
press such thoughts to others, and the farther are they from the 
common notions of most readers. Truth will always at last be- 
come visible by its own light ; yet the difficulties arising from 
imperfect language, and from want of sympathy on our part, 
will often cloud its brightness. To be understood, it must 
be long meditated. Many of the difficulties occurring in the 
epistles of Paul, and in some other parts of the sacred writings, 
where there is no obscurity arising from want of critical or his- 
torical knowledge, are, I think, mainly to be ascribed to this 
cause. 

Note F. p. 93. 

I feel a reluctance to censure any thing from the pen of so 
wise and worthy a man as Dr. PaJey. Indeed, these plain old 



259 



English adjectives, wise and worthy, are, I think, singularly 
expressive of his character as a man and an author. But his 
scheme of morals, founded on a peculiar modification of the 
theory of utility, combining the two doctrines of self love as the 
motive, and universal good as the rule of all moral action, andt 
rejecting all consideration of the nature of right and wrong, 
founded in the immutable character of the Deity, and perceived 
more or less clearly by reason, as well as all regard to the senti- 
ment of moral beauty, is a very imperfect, though not wholly 
erroneous view of the ground and sanctions of moral obligation ; 
and it leads him towards conclusions full of danger. From 
these he is in the main preserved^ when he comes to apply his 
theory to the actual business and conduct of life, by his sound 
good sense, and his sincere respect for revelation. Still the 
tendency has been to lower the tone of his morality, both in dig- 
nity of motive, and in simplicity and consistency of actior* 
When I read his chapters on Lies, Oaths, and Subscriptions, in 
the first part of his Moral Philosophy, and then turn to the 
chapters on Sincerity and Truth, in Godwin's Political Justice, I 
blush to compare the too flexible ethics of the Christian divine 
with the nobler and more bracing morality of the eloquent 
sceptic. 

These same defects, though more prominent in his Moral 
Philosophy, may be occasionally traced in his chapter on the 
Morality of the Gospel, in his work on the Evidences, mixed with 
much that is every way excellent. 

There is in his argument upon this point, an indistinctness 
and confusion very rare in any thing from Dr. Paley's pen. 
In the main, however, regarding all virtue as a matter of calcu- 
lation, in which good sense balances the amount of personal or 
general good to be attained by any given course of action, he is 
naturally led to underrate the originality of the revealed morali-r 
ty ; and the main conclusion which he draws from its excellence 
as confirming the revelation which contains it, is, that it is such 
as to repel the idea of its being the tradition of abarbarons age* 



260 



or of an ignorant people, of the religion being founded in folly- 
or in craft, or being the effusion of enthusiasm ; but on the con- 
trary, that it proves the good sense of those to whom it owes its 
origin, and that some regard is due to, the testimony of such 
men, when they declare their knowledge that the religion pro-, 
ceeded from God, and when they appeal for the truth of that as- 
sertion, to miracles which they wrought or had witnessed. In 
the course of this discussion, higher views of the internal evi- 
dence of the Christian ethics, seem to have forced themselves 
upon his notice, but being less in harmony with his imperfect 
theory of morals, he has not unfolded them> nor insisted upon 
them, with his usual perspicuity and talent. 

In another respect this chapter is, I think, still more faulty. 
The extensive popularity of the work will be a sufficient apology 
for a few remarks upon a subject which is intimately connected 
with the consideration of the Evidences of Christianity. 

I cannot conceive how so acute and distinguishing a reasoner^ 
could have adopted, without a much more distinct qualification, 
Soame Jenyns' peculiar views of the Christian morality, al- 
though they may be made to harmonize sufficiently well with 
his own scheme of general utility. 

He states from Jenyns, in rather stronger and more unqualifi- 
ed terms than Jenyns had himself used, the following proposi- 
tions : " That the gospel omits some qualities which have natu- 
rally engaged the praises and admiration of mankind, but which, 
in reality, and in their general effect, have been prejudicial to. 
human happiness." And then exemplifies this general propo- 
sition by the instances of " Friendship, Patriotism, and active 
Courage, in the sense in which these qualities are usually under-^ 
6tood, and the conduct which they often produce." 

There is certainly, to most minds, something very startling 
and paradoxical in this position, and not a little revolting to our 
natural and instinctive impressions of character and conduct. 

It is, I grant, very true, that these qualities, especially those 
of patriotism and courage, do frequently produce, and have pror 
duced conduct not consonant to Christian ethics. 



261 



The;e were, doubtless, the inspiring principles of action oi 
ma in old Roman senator, as the elder Cato, for example, 
constantly exciting him to build up the power of the 

populum late regem, belloque superbura ; 

and to trample down by force, fraud, and unconquerable perse- 
verance, the liberties of the rest of the world. 

Let us suppose, however, that the courage and patriotism of 
Cato had been otherwise directed. Let us suppose it exerted to 
preserve the peace of Italy — to diffuse the arts of civilization — 
to put an end to the ferocious amusements and grosser vices of 
his countrymen — to correct, to soften, to purify their morals — 
that all this had been the animating principle and great object 
of his life- — that in this cause he had braved danger, and endu- 
red obloquy — would these qualities be then "prejudicial to hu- 
man happiness V Or would they not rather have been such as 
" Paul himself would approve and own ?" 

To me it is quite clear, that the gospel morality agrees with 
the common and natural notions of mankind, in representing 
friendship and patriotism not precisely as virtues, but, as 
natural and laudable affections, congenial to the true nature, and 
capable of developing the best cfualities of man ; and active cou^ 
rage as being an admirable and valuable gift of heaven, whether 
it be of the physical kind, inwrought in the constitution, or of a 
moral nature, created by the energies of a strong mind and 
powerful emotions. They may, of course, all be ill directed, 
turned to vile uses, mixed with baser passions ; but so far from 
being omitted in the gospel, they are there exhibited in their 
noblest attitudes and most vivid colours. 

What shall we say of the strong breathings of St. Paul's 
friendship to his youthful colleague and companion ? — what of 
his ardent aspirations of personal affection towards his erring 
Corinthian converts ? When he reminds them of his labours 
and hardships in his Master's cause, what higher examples can 
we have of active courage, than are found in his animated re- 
cital of his past life, of his labours, of bis dangers, of his daring? 



262 



a In j'ourneyings often ; in perils of water ; in perils of robbers ? 
in perils by mine own countrymen ; in perils by the heathen ; 
in perils in the city ; in perils in the wilderness ; in perils in the 
sea ; in perils among false brethren &c. 

The calmness with which the Apostle contemplates these dan- 
gers., and the resolution with which he endures them, are not to 
be considered as mere passive courage ; they are something 
more than patience, and resignation, and cheerful submission 
under unavoidable calamity. If the resolutely, and firmly, 
and voluntarily encountering known danger for the sake of 
a worthy object, the exercise of all the powers of the mind and 
the body, to subdue or avoid the evil, so far as it may be right 
and expedient, the meeting and facing the evil whenever duty 
bids, instead of waiting for it ; if this be not active courage 
then we must confine that appellation to the brute valour of the 
ferocious combatant, who plunges into danger from mere ani- 
mal impulse. 

The exclusion of patriotism from the list of Christian virtues, 
is still more in contradiction to the exhibition of character, man- 
ifested by the great Apostle. Where is there in the eloquence 
of classical antiquity, or of modern liberty,, so glorious and in- 
t ense a burst of patriotic feeling as that in the Epistle to the Ro- 
mans, when he mourns over the incredulity and 1 punishment of 
his beloved, apostate, rejected, yet, still, favoured countrymen, 
pouring forth his great heaviness and continual sorrow of the 
heart for his " kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israel- 
ites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, and the cov- 
enants, and the giving of the law, and the service, and the 
promises," &c. 

The supposed opposition of patriotism to the Christian pre- 
cepts of expanded and universal benevolence, arises wholly from 
false views of the nature and objects of love of country — from no. 
tions of it which are as unsound in reference to political wisdom^ 
as they are hostile to the mild spirit of Christian morality. It 
arises from considering patriotism as necessarily impelling m 



263 



(t6 us"e the words of Soame Jenyns) ^ to oppress all other 
countries to advance the imaginary interest of our own." It 
may indeed do so, and we know that it has often done so. But 
this was because that it was as blind to the true interests and 
happiness of its own country, as regardless of those of others. 

Parental affection, or filial duty, may lead to the same results, 
and we know that they frequently do so. They too, in blind en- 
deavours to promote the supposed welfare of those whom it is 
our duty to love or honour, have led many to invade the 
rights of their neighbours, by fraud or violence. But the 
true interest of every country, and its lasting happiness and real 
glory, have no connection with tyrranny or conquest, any more 
than the real welfare of a family has with the means of grati- 
fying ostentatious pride, acquired by fraud and rapine. 

This attempt to thrust patriotism from that seat by the throne 
of true virtue, which the common Consent of mankind has always 
assigned to it, is not peculiar to a few modern Christian wri- 
terSj (for it should be remarked that it is a refinement of which 
Christian antiquity never dreamt,) but really comes from a very 
different school. It has been a favourite doctrine of not a few 
sceptical and licentious moralists, who have designed to shake 
our faith in all moral excellence, by showing some necessary 
contradictions between our most palpable duties. 

6i To be a good patriot, says Voltaire, one must often become 
the enemy of all the rest of mankind. To be a good 
citizen, is to wish your city to be enriched by commerce, 
or to become powerful by arms. But it is clear that no 
country can gain without some other loses, and that it is im- 
possible to make conquests without making many wretched. 
Such is the conditton of hnmanity ; to wish for greatness for 
ourselves is to wish evil to our neighbours. He who wishes 
that his own country should never be greater, smaller, richer or 
poorer than it now is, is alone the true citizen of the world."* 

* II est triste que souvent pour 6tre bon patriote ou soit l'ennemi du reste 
de-j honuaes. Uancien Caton, cc bon citoyen, disait toujoursen opinant au 



HoW perfect and hoW beautiful is the harmony of all truth I 
How intimately Connected are the duties of man With his best 
and most immediate interests ! Wherever the ingenuity of a licen- 
tious morality or a sceptical or paradoxical philosophy attempts 
to array our duties against each other, or in opposition to the 
pure and warm sentiments which approve themselves as right to 
the untaught consciences of all thinking men, whatever logical 
plausibility may at the first view appear in the argument, we 
may rely upon it, that this contradiction is not, and cannot be, 
real. In this particular instance, the refutation is furnished not 
less by the lessons of a sound political sagacity, than it is by the 
quicker suggestions of the spirit of real Christian benevolence. 

An enlightened philosophy sees in the honourable and regu- 
lar profits of Commerce, not the pickpocket gains of the gambler 
or swindler, who (as Voltaire says of the commercial nation) 
can never gain except some other person loses ; but the communi- 
cation and interchange between districts or nations, of that which 
in the lavish abundance of some particular gift of nature is su- 
perfluous to each, for that which increases its comforts or plea- 
sures ; an exchange in which the increased wealth and happiness 
of each nation adds to the wealth of all, by augmenting their means 
of enjoyment, by opening new markets for their productions, and 
by affording an additional stimulus to their industry. 

An enlightened patriotism contemplates the power of the coun- 
try of our affections, not as the instrument of tyranny and ag- 



Senat ; tel est mon avis, et qu'on mine Carthage. Etre bon patriote, c'est 
souhaiter que sa ville s'enrichisse par le commerce, et soit puissante par leg 
armes. II est clair qu'un pays ne peut gagner sans qu'une autre perde, efc 
qu'elle ne peut vaincre sans faire des malheureux. 

Tel est done la condition humaine, que souhaiter la grandeur, c'est sou- 
haiter du mal a. ses voisins. Celui qui voudrait que sa patrie ne fut jamais 
ni plus grande, ni plus petite, ni plus riche, ni plus pauvre, serait le citoyen 
del'imivers, 

Voltaire, Diet. Phil. Mot Patrie. 



265 



gression, but as bestowing the ability to stretch out the strong 
arm of protection over the heads of each of its citizens, shielding 
his rights, his home and his happiness, from injury or insult. Far 
from wishing that such a country should never become greater, 
the patriot will rightly mourn over every imperfection in her civil 
government or external relations which dwarfs her growth and 
cramps her energies. He Will look with an exultation unmix- 
ed with any selfish feeling upon the peaceful triumphs of her 
arts and her industry, and will joy to see liberty, and enterprise, 
and education subduing the wilderness or the ocean, and spread- 
ing over the waste places of the earth, a more glorious and more 
lasting empire than military ambition ever grasped in its wildest 
dreams. 

The good man and the wise man joys in all this, because he 
knows well that true and lasting national greatness is never pur- 
chased at the expense of others, but that it is built up by that 
well-directed talent and enterprise, by that freedom and virtue, 
which, while they cover his own land with lustre, must at length' 
send forth the rays of their mild and cheering warmth to the re- 
mote ends of the earth. 

Knowing and feeling this, he whose heart beats truly and 
warmly for his native land, needs not the lessons of Smith, Say, 
or Ricardo, to teach him, that whenever the love of country ar- 
rays itself against the expanded philanthropy which Christi- 
anity enjoins, it then becomes blind, and doting, and false to its 
own real interests, 

Note G. p. 135. 

In the phrase u the Idols of our secret worship," an indirect 
allusion has been made to the well-known philosophical meta- 
phor, or rather Allegory of Lord Bacon, who, in summing up 
the causes of error in judgment, thus symbolically represents 
those prejudices and intellectual defects of individuals, tending to 
darken the perceptions or distort the judgment in important inqui- 
ries, which are a species of moral idiosyncrasies, belonging on- 

34 



2m 



ly to the individual, and arising from personal peculiarities of 
temperament and constitution, of education, of external or acci- 
dental circumstances, of custom, pleasures, habits of society, or of 
long pursued and favourite studies. These he represents as the 
tutelary idols to which each individual offers his solitary worship 
in his own dark cavern, and sometimes sacrifices truth and 
sometimes virtue upon their shrine. 

"Idola Specus sunt idola hominis individui. Habet enim 
unus quisque (praeter aberrationes naturae humanae in genere) 
speeum sive cavernam quandam individuam, quae lumen naturae, 
frangit et corrumpit ; vel propter naturam cujusque propriam et 
singularem, vel propter educationem et conversationem cum aliis 
vel propter lectionem librorum, et auctoritates eorum quos 
quisque colit et miratur, vel propter differentias impressionum 
prout occurrunt in animo occupato et praedisposito, aut in animo 
equo et sedato, vel ejusmodi ; ut plane Spiritus humanus (prout 
clisponitur in hominibus singulis) sit res varia, et omnino pertur- 
bata et quasi fortuita." Novum Organon, 1.42. 

These secret singularities afford the clue to many of those 
strange anomalies of character, and stranger circumstances of 
conduct, which a man must live with little o bservation of others 
or of himself, to fail to remark. 

Could these be made fully known to us, we should no longer be 
surprised at the "fears of the brave and the follies of the wise." 
But they can so little be reduced to rule, and must be so imper- 
fectly understood by others, that in moral and religious instruc- 
tion it is hazardous to depart from those grand generali- 
ties, that embrace all interests and involve motives of unbound- 
ed application. 

But, whilst in forming our practical opinions, we are thus lia- 
ble to be swayed by our peculiar and invisible propensities ; 
speculative men, when they undertake to instruct others, are as 
much under the dominion of that spirit of system which aims at 
reducing all truth to rules, definitions, and uniform, and precise 



267 



arrangement. In doing this, they insensibly blend it with their 
own theories, or else omit that portion of it not congenial to their 
own characters. Thus, in those speculative minds, who have 
been the leaders of sects, the lights of science, the instructors of 
the people, moral peculiarities have influenced their most purely 
intellectual operations. The most dangerous and extravagant 
theories may be connected by a strong and close link un- 
known to the man himself, with some secret vice or favourite 
folly in which the mind is wont to indulge, when it retires to its 
recesses, and disports itself in what Johnson has happily called 
" its invincible riots, the secret prodigality of being, secure from 
detection and fearless of reproach." 



ERRATA. 

Page "9, line 2, for Confirming, read confirm. 

29, line 4, dele marks of quotation from the word literally. 

52, line 8 from bottom, for its, read theirs. 

93, line 6 from bottom, for objection^ read obligation. 
137, for rectamandi, read reclamandi. 
J88, line 15, for their read these. 
225, line 3 from bottom, for historian read historians. 



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